Spin resolved Hall effect driven by spin-orbit coupling

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin-orbit coupling in a 2D mesoscopic system induces circulating spin and electric Hall currents, with their behaviors depending on the coexistence of Rashba and Dresselhaus couplings and disorder strength.

Contribution

It numerically demonstrates the coexistence and circulation of spin and electric Hall currents driven by combined spin-orbit couplings using the Landauer-Buttiker formalism.

Findings

Both electric and spin Hall currents circulate with coexisting couplings.

Electric Hall conductance vanishes if only one coupling is present.

Hall conductances are suppressed by strong disorder but persist in weak disorder.

Abstract

Spin and electric Hall currents are calculated numerically in a two-dimensional mesoscopic system with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling by means of the Landauer-Buttiker formalism. It is found that both electric and spin Hall currents circulate when two spin-orbit couplings coexist, while the electric Hall conductance vanishes if either one is absent. The electric and spin Hall conductances are suppressed in strong disorder, but survive in weak disorder. Physically it can be understood that the spinomotive transverse "force" generated by spin-orbit coupling is responsible for the formation of the spin Hall current and the lack of transverse reflection symmetry is the origin of the electric Hall current.