Spin accumulation with spin-orbit interaction
Henri Saarikoski
Thursday, 2 April 2009, 13:30
Matfys library
Abstract:
Spin accumulation is a crucial but imprecise concept in spintronics. In
metal-based spintronics it is characterized in terms of semiclassical
distribution functions. In semiconductors with a strong spin-orbit coupling
the spin accumulation is interpreted as a superposition of coherent
eigenstates. Both views can be reconciled by taking into account the
electron-electron interaction: a sufficiently strong self-consistent
exchange field reduces a spin accumulation to a chemical potential
difference between the two spin bands even in the presence of spin-orbit
coupling. We demonstrate the idea on a clean two-dimensional electron gas
(2DEG) by showing how the exchange field protects a spin accumulation from
dephasing and introduces an easy-plane anisotropy.