Intrinsic spin Hall effect in noncubic crystals

E. M. Chudnovsky

Published 2009-11-02Version 1

We study the dependence of the intrinsic spin Hall effect on the crystal symmetry and geometry of experiment. The spin current is obtained and the Hall voltage caused by the polarization of the electron spins is computed. The unique dependence of the effect on the crystal symmetry permits the choice of geometry in which the spin Hall effect can be unambiguously distinguished from the effects due to the orbital motion of charge carriers and due to the magnetic field generated by the transport current.