5,225 research outputs found
Spin Hall effect in spin-valley coupled monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides
We study both the intrinsic and extrinsic spin Hall effect in spin-valley
coupled monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides. We find that whereas
the skew-scattering contribution is suppressed by the large band gap, the
side-jump contribution is comparable to the intrinsic one with opposite sign in
the presence of scalar and magnetic scattering. Intervalley scattering tends to
suppress the side-jump contribution due to the loss of coherence. By tuning the
ratio of intra- to intervalley scattering, the spin Hall conductivity shows a
sign change in hole-doped samples. Multiband effect in other doping regime is
considered, and it is found that the sign change exists in the heavily
hole-doped regime, but not in the electron-doped regime
Berry phase modification to the energy spectrum of excitons
By quantizing the semiclassical motion of excitons, we show that the Berry
curvature can cause an energy splitting between exciton states with opposite
angular momentum. This splitting is determined by the Berry curvature flux
through the -space area spanned by the relative motion of the
electron-hole pair in the exciton wave function. Using the gapped
two-dimensional Dirac equation as a model, we show that this splitting can be
understood as an effective spin-orbit coupling effect. In addition, there is
also an energy shift caused by other "relativistic" terms. Our result reveals
the limitation of the venerable hydrogenic model of excitons, and highlights
the importance of the Berry curvature in the effective mass approximation.Comment: 4.5 pages, 2 figures, reference updated and minor change
Surface and Edge States in Topological Semi-metals
We study the topologically non-trivial semi-metals by means of the 6-band
Kane model. Existence of surface states is explicitly demonstrated by
calculating the LDOS on the material surface. In the strain free condition,
surface states are divided into two parts in the energy spectrum, one part is
in the direct gap, the other part including the crossing point of surface state
Dirac cone is submerged in the valence band. We also show how uni-axial strain
induces an insulating band gap and raises the crossing point from the valence
band into the band gap, making the system a true topological insulator. We
predict existence of helical edge states and spin Hall effect in the thin film
topological semi-metals, which could be tested with future experiment. Disorder
is found to significantly enhance the spin Hall effect in the valence band of
the thin films
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