Spin Hall effect in iron-based superconductors: A Dirac-point effect

Abstract

We have theoretically explored the intrinsic spin Hall effect (SHE) in the iron-based superconductor family with a variety of materials. The study is motivated by an observation that, in addition to an appreciable spin-orbit coupling in the Fe 3d states, a character of the band structure in which Dirac cones appear below the Fermi energy may play a crucial role in producing a large SHE. Our investigation does indeed predict a substantially large spin Hall conductivity in a heavily hole-doped regime, such as KFe2As2. The magnitude of the SHE has turned out to be comparable with that for Pt despite a relatively small spin-orbit coupling, which we identify as coming from a huge contribution from the gap opening induced by the spin-orbit coupling at the Dirac point, which can become close to the Fermi energy for the heavy hole doping.

Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval

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