2010/11/15 by Frank Freimuth, Stefan Blügel, Yuriy Mokrousov · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.246602
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 246602 (2010) · Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters
arxiv created 2010/11/15 · arxiv updated 2010/12/09
We report on first principles calculations of the anisotropy of the intrinsic spin Hall conductivity (SHC) in nonmagnetic hcp metals and in antiferromagnetic Cr. For most of the metals of this study we find large anisotropies. We derive the general relation between the SHC vector and the direction of spin polarization and discuss its consequences for hcp metals. Especially, it is predicted that for systems where the SHC changes sign due to the anisotropy the spin Hall effect may be tuned such that the spin polarization is parallel either to the electric field or to the spin current.