Ab initio calculation of intrinsic spin Hall effect in semiconductors

Abstract

Relativistic band theoretical calculations reveal that intrinsic spin Hall conductivity in hole-doped archetypical semiconductors Ge, GaAs and AlAs is large $[\sim 100 (\hbar/e)(\Omega cm)^{-1}]$, showing the possibility of spin Hall effect beyond the four band Luttinger Hamiltonian. The calculated orbital-angular-momentum (orbital) Hall conductivity is one order of magnitude smaller, indicating no cancellation between the spin and orbital Hall effects in bulk semiconductors. Furthermore, it is found that the spin Hall effect can be strongly manipulated by strains, and that the $ac$ spin Hall conductivity in the semiconductors is large in pure as well as doped semiconductors.