191 research outputs found
Some symmetry properties of spin currents and spin polarizations in multi-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled systems
We study theoretically some symmetry properties of spin currents and spin
polarizations in multi-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled systems. Based on
a scattering wave function approach, we show rigorously that in the equilibrium
state no finite spin polarizations can exist in a multi-terminal mesoscopic
spin-orbit coupled system (both in the leads and in the spin-orbit coupled
region) and also no finite equilibrium terminal spin currents can exist. By use
of a typical two-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled system as the example,
we show explicitly that the nonequilibrium terminal spin currents in a
multi-terminal mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled system are non-conservative in
general. This non-conservation of terminal spin currents is not caused by the
use of an improper definition of spin current but is intrinsic to
spin-dependent transports in mesoscopic spin-orbit coupled systems. We also
show that the nonequilibrium lateral edge spin accumulation induced by a
longitudinal charge current in a thin strip of \textit{finite} length of a
two-dimensional electronic system with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling may be
non-antisymmetric in general, which implies that some cautions may need to be
taken when attributing the occurrence of nonequilibrium lateral edge spin
accumulation induced by a longitudinal charge current in such a system to an
intrinsic spin Hall effect.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
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