Boundary conditions for spin diffusion

ORAL

Abstract

We introduce a general method of deriving boundary conditions for spin-charge coupled transport in disordered systems with spin-orbit interactions and derive boundary conditions for spin diffusion in the Rashba model for various types of boundaries. Due to the surface spin precession, the boundary conditions are generally non-trivial and may contain terms, which couple different components of the spin density. We argue that boundary conditions and the corresponding electric-field-induced spin accumulation depend on the nature of the boundary and therefore the spin Hall effect in a spin-orbit coupled system can be viewed as a non-universal edge phenomenon.

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Authors

  • Victor Galitski

    • Condensed Matter Theory Center, Physics Department, University of Maryland
    • Joint Quantum Institute and Physics Department, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Anton Burkov

    • Harvard University
    • Physics Department, Harvard University

  • Sankar Das Sarma

    • Condensed Matter Theory Center, Physics Department, University of Maryland
    • Condensed Matter Theory Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
    • Condensed Matter Theory Center, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
    • University of Maryland
    • Condensed Matter Theory Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-4111, USA
    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • CMTC, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
    • CMTC, Department of Physics, UMD, Maryland
    • Condensed Matter Theory Center, University of Maryland