Understanding spin Hall effect in two-dimensional fermionic systems with generic spin-orbit interaction

Abstract

We delve into spin Hall effect in generic spin-orbit coupled two-dimensional fermionic systems. We derive analytically the spin-orbit force responsible for the spin Hall effect, and find that it has `Lorentz force'-like form. We also derive the pseudo magnetic field responsible for this force. We establish the relation between the spin Hall conductivity, flux quanta and this pseudo magnetic field, similar to the one between charge Hall conductivity, flux quanta and the external field. We also present an exact closed-form expression of the spin Hall conductivity in a generic spin-orbit coupled system. Depending on the dimensionality of the spin-orbit interactions, the spin Hall conductivity depends on different combinations of Rashba parameter and fermion density.