Issue |
EPL
Volume 112, Number 1, October 2015
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 17004 | |
Number of page(s) | 6 | |
Section | Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/112/17004 | |
Published online | 14 October 2015 |
Intrinsic spin Hall effect in systems with striped spin-orbit coupling
1 Institut für Physik, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg - PBox 101344, D-03013 Cottbus, Germany
2 Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Sapienza - Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Roma, Italy
3 Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre - Via della Vasca Navale 84, I-00146 Roma, Italy
Received: 14 July 2015
Accepted: 24 September 2015
The Rashba spin-orbit coupling arising from structure inversion asymmetry couples spin and momentum degrees of freedom providing a suitable (and very intensively investigated) environment for spintronic effects and devices. In this framework, the spin Hall effect is a crucial ingredient since it allows for the manipulation of spin degrees of freedom without magnetic fields. Here we show that, in the presence of disorder, a striped modulation of a two-dimensional electron gas, affecting both density and Rashba spin-orbit coupling, gives rise to a finite spin Hall conductivity in contrast with the corresponding homogeneous system. We suggest that this mechanism can be exploited for a practical realization of a spin Hall device. This could be implemented at oxide interfaces with periodic top gating, leading to a large ratio between the induced spin and charge currents.
PACS: 72.25.-b – Spin polarized transport / 75.76.+j – Spin transport effects / 72.25.Rb – Spin relaxation and scattering
© EPLA, 2015
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