Variational approach to the stationary spin-Hall effect

J.-E. Wegrowe (1) , P.-M. Déjardin (2)

1 LSI - Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés - Irradiated Solids Laboratory
2 LAMPS - LAboratoire de Modélisation Pluridisciplinaire et Simulations

The Kirchhoff-Helmholtz principle of least heat dissipation is applied in order to derive the stationary state of the spin-Hall effect. Spin-accumulation due to spin-orbit interaction, spin-flip relaxation, and electrostatic interaction due to charge accumulation are treated on an equal footing. A nonlinear differential equation is derived, that describes both surface and bulk currents and spin-dependent chemical potentials. It is shown that if the ratio of the spin-flip relaxation length over the Debye-Fermi length is small, the stationary state is defined by a linear spin-accumulation potential and zero pure spin-current.

Domaines: Systèmes mésoscopiques et effet Hall quantique [cond-mat.mes-hall]

J.-E. Wegrowe, P.-M. Déjardin. Variational approach to the stationary spin-Hall effect. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2018, 124 (1), pp.17003. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/124/17003⟩. ⟨hal-01945193⟩