Spin projection and spin current density within relativistic electronic transport calculations

Abstract

A spin projection scheme is presented which allows the decomposition of the electric conductivity into two different spin channels within fully relativistic $ab$ $initio$ transport calculations that account for the impact of spin-orbit coupling. This is demonstrated by calculations of the spin-resolved conductivity of Fe$_{1-x}$Cr$_x$ and Co$_{1-x}$Pt$_x$ disordered alloys on the basis of the corresponding Kubo-Greenwood equation implemented using the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent potential approximation (KKR-CPA) band structure method. In addition, results for the residual resistivity of diluted Ni-based alloys are presented that are compared to theoretical and experimental ones that rely on Mott's two-current model for spin-polarized systems. The application of the scheme to deal with the spin-orbit induced spin Hall effect is discussed in addition