Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 19: Spin controlled transport I

HL 19.7: Talk

Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 12:15–12:30, H14

Anisotropic current-induced spin accumulation in the two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling — •Maxim Trushin and John Schliemann — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Regensburg, D-93040 Regensburg, Germany

We investigate the magnetoelectric (or inverse spin-galvanic) effect in the two dimensional electron gases with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling using an exact solution of the Boltzmann equation for electron spin and momentum. Regarding the spin degree of freedom, our solution neglects off-diagonal elements of the semiclassical distribution matrix in the eigenbasis (or helicity basis) of the single-particle Hamiltonian, an approximation which is shown to be valid at sufficiently high temperatures common in experiments. Using this solution, we discover the anisotropy of the current induced spin accumulation, though the conductivity remains isotropic. To conclude, our analytical study is expected to be a reliable starting point for further investigations of spin dependent electron transport. (See cond-mat/0611328 for details.)