Bilinear planar Hall effect in topological insulators due to spin-momentum locking inhomogeneity

Abstract

We study the effect of spin-momentum locking inhomogeneity on the planar Hall effect in topological insulators (TIs). Using the minimal model describing surface states of 3D TIs and semiclassical Boltzmann formalism, we have derived the planar Hall conductivity within the generalized relaxation time approximation. We have found that the total planar Hall conductivity is a sum of linear and nonlinear to the external electric field components. The linear term is a conventional planar Hall conductivity which scales quadratically with an external magnetic field, whereas the nonlinear term reveals bilinear behaviour, i.e., changes its sign when either charge current density or in-plane magnetic field orientation is reversed. We have shown that the emergent nonlinear planar Hall effect is a consequence of spin-momentum locking inhomogeneity in the TIs with isotropic energy dispersion and dominates under the conventional planar Hall effect.