Orbital Diffusion, Polarization, and Swapping in Centrosymmetric Metals
We propose a general theory of charge, spin, and orbital diffusion based on Keldysh formalism. Our findings indicate that the diffusivity of orbital angular momentum in metals is much lower than that of spin or charge due to the strong orbital intermixing in crystals. Furthermore, our theory introduces the concept of "spin-orbit polarization" by which a pure orbital (spin) current induces a longitudinal spin (orbital) current, a process as efficient as spin polarization in ferromagnets. Finally, we find that orbital currents undergo momentum swapping, even in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. This theory establishes several key parameters for orbital transport of direct importance to experiments.
Authors
- Armando Pezo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2613-3808)
- Aurélien Manchon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4768-293X)
- Kyoung‐Whan Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1382-7088)
- Kyung‐Jin Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6269-2266)
- Weisheng Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1386-4887)
- Xiaobai Ning (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0206-0522)
Institutions
- Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KR)
- Yonsei University (KR)
- Aix-Marseille Université (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille (FR)
- Beihang University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-01-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.026303
- Citations
- 10
- Primary Topic
- Quasicrystal Structures and Properties
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.18
Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- China Scholarship Council
- National Key Research and Development Program of China