Thermoelectric response of spin polarization in Rashba spintronic systems

Cong Xiao, Dingping Li, Zhongshui Ma

Published 2015-05-31Version 1

Motivated by recent discovery of strongly spin-orbit coupled two-dimensional (2D) electron gas near the surface of Rashba semiconductors BiTeX (X=Cl, Br, I), we calculate thermoelectric responses of spin polarization in 2D Rashba model using an exact solution of the linearized Boltzmann equation for elastic scattering. When the Fermi energy $E_{F}$ lies below the band crossing point we find a non-Edelstein electric-field induced spin polarization which is linear in $E_{F}$. We show that the Mott-like relation between spin polarizations induced by the temperature gradient and electric field breaks down significantly when $E_{F}$ lies in the vicinity of the band crossing point. As the temperature tends to zero, the temperature-gradient induced spin polarization vanishes. These results differ from previous ones obtained by relaxation time approximations.