Electric Dipole Induced Spin Resonance in Disordered Semiconductors

Abstract

One of the hallmarks of spintronics is the control of magnetic moments by electric fields enabled by strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in semiconductors. A powerful way of manipulating spins in such structures is electric dipole induced spin resonance (EDSR), where the radio-frequency fields driving the spins are electric, and not magnetic like in standard paramagnetic resonance. Here, we present a theoretical study of EDSR for a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of disorder where random impurities not only determine the electric resistance but also the spin dynamics via SOI. Considering a specific geometry with the electric and magnetic fields parallel and in-plane, we show that the magnetization develops an out-of-plane component at resonance which survives the presence of disorder. We also discuss the spin Hall current generated by EDSR. These results are derived in a diagrammatic approach with the dominant effects coming from the spin vertex correction, and the optimal parameter regime for observation is identified.