CPM Seminar

Mesoscopic Spin-Hall Effect

Hong Guo

McGill University

For a pure semiconductor with spin-orbital (SO) interactions, recent literature [1] has proposed that a dc electric field in one direction, say z direction, can induce a flow of spin-current in x-direction: such a spin-current is dissipation-less because the external electric field does no work to the electrons flowing inside the spin-current. For a mesoscopic sample, the flow of spin-current induces a mesoscopic spin-Hall effect that survives weak disorder. In this seminar, I will describe the physics of mesoscopic spin-Hall phenomenon induced by SO interaction [2], reporting a universal spin-Hall conductance fluctuation [3], and summarizing the physics of mesoscopic spin-Hall effect in a low field phase diagram [4].

[1] S. Murakami et al, Science 301, 1348 (2003).
[2] Q.F. Sun, J. Wang and Hong Guo, Phys. Rev. B 71, 165310 (2005).
[3] W. Ren et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 066603 (2006).
[4] Z. Qiao et al, cond-mat/0610288.