2014/09/05 by Sebastian Tölle, Cosimo Gorini, Ulrich Eckern · 13 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Coupling (piping) #Electron #Magnetic properties of thin films #Materials science #Nernst effect #Nernst equation #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin Hall effect #Spin polarization #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.90.235117
published in Physical Review B 90(23) (American Physical Society) · 9 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2014/09/05 · openalex publication_date 2014/12/09 · arxiv updated 2014/12/17 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Considering metallic films at room temperature, we present the first theoretical study of the spin Nernst and thermal Edelstein effects that takes into account dynamical spin-orbit coupling, i.e., direct spin-orbit coupling with the vibrating lattice (phonons) and impurities. This gives rise to a novel process, namely, a dynamical side-jump mechanism, and to dynamical Elliott-Yafet spin relaxation, never before considered in this context. Both are the high-temperature counterparts of the well-known T=0 side-jump and Elliott-Yafet, central to the current understanding of the spin Hall, spin Nernst and Edelstein (current-induced spin polarization) effects at low T. We consider the experimentally relevant regime T>TD, with TD the Debye temperature, as the latter is lower than room temperature in transition metals such as Pt, Au and Ta typically employed in spin injection/extraction experiments. We show that the interplay between intrinsic (Bychkov-Rashba type) and extrinsic (dynamical) spin-orbit coupling yields a nonlinear T dependence of the spin Nernst and spin Hall conductivities.