Topological spin-Hall current in waveguided zinc-blende semiconductors with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling

摘要

We describe an intrinsic spin-Hall effect in $n$-type bulk zinc-blendesemiconductors with topological origin. When electron transport is confined toa waveguide structure, and the applied electric field is such that the spins ofelectrons remain as eigenstates of the Dresselhaus spin-orbit field withnegligible subband mixing, a gauge structure appears in the momentum space ofthe system. In particular, the momentum space exhibits a non-trivial Berrycurvature which affects the transverse motion of electrons anisotropically inspin, thereby producing a finite spin-Hall effect. The effect should bedetectable using standard techniques in the literature such as Kerr rotation,and be readily distinguishable from other mechanisms of the spin-Hall effect.