Sign Changes of Intrinsic Spin Hall Effect in Semiconductors and Simple Metals: First-Principles Calculations

TL;DR

This paper uses first-principles calculations to study the intrinsic spin Hall effect in semiconductors and metals, revealing sign changes in conductivity that help distinguish intrinsic from extrinsic effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates the occurrence of sign changes in intrinsic spin Hall conductivity in various materials and compares theoretical results with experimental data.

Findings

Intrinsic spin Hall conductivity shows rich sign changes.

Calculated ISHC in n-doped GaAs matches experimental data.

ISHC in W and Au is robust and unaffected by disorder.

Abstract

First-principles calculations are applied to study spin Hall effect in semiconductors and simple metals. We found that intrinsic spin Hall conductivity (ISHC) in realistic materials shows rich sign changes, which may be used to distinguish the effect from the extrinsic one. The calculated ISHC in n-doped GaAs can be well compared with experiment, and it differs from the sign obtained from the extrinsic effect. On the other hand, the ISHC in W and Au, which shows opposite sign respectively, is robust and not sensitive to the disorder.