Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 28: Spin-dependent Transport Phenomena

MA 28.9: Talk

Thursday, March 25, 2010, 17:30–17:45, H3

Ab initio study of the spin-Hall effect in nonmagnetic 4d and 5d transition metals — •Frank Freimuth, Yuriy Mokrousov, and Stefan Blügel — Institut für Festkörperforschung, & Institute for Advanced Simulation, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany

Due to the spin-orbit interaction an electrical current induces a transverse spin current leading to the appearance of spin accumulation on the lateral surfaces of current-carrying samples. This phenomenon is known as the spin-Hall effect and offers new perspectives for the design of spintronics devices. A quantitatively reliable theoretical description of the spin-Hall effect is desirable for computer-aided material design. However, in the presence of spin-orbit coupling the standard formulation of the spin current is unsatisfactory, because it does not meet the requirement of conservedness. Moreover, the relationship between spin current and spin accumulation is still an open question. We present DFT-based ab initio calculations of the spin-Hall conductivity in nonmagnetic bulk 4d and 5d transition metals. We compare various formulations of the spin current and discuss their relevance for the spin accumulation. Additionally, we describe our computational method, which is based on the Kubo formalism within a Green-function based implementation of the full-potential linearized augmented-plane-wave (FLAPW) method FLEUR (www.flapw.de). Our method is not restricted to bulk calculations, but we are able to tackle a huge spectrum of geometries (bulk, film, semi-infinite slab) and to calculate the spin current beyond linear response.