Injection of orbital angular momentum into transition metals from first principles

We use quantum mechanical scattering calculations implemented in a basis of tight-binding muffin-tin orbitals to calculate nonequilibrium spin and orbital currents in transition metals with a view to understanding the length scale on which they decay. In the case of spin currents, the relaxation length, called the spin-flip diffusion length, is reasonably well understood. We apply our experience with spin currents to study orbitally polarized currents and find that they behave qualitatively differently. Upon injection from a lead, orbital currents decay within a few atomic layers contradicting the current interpretation of experimental results, which appear to show exponential decay on the length scale of the spin-flip diffusion length and longer. When spin–orbit coupling is included, the injected orbital current is partially converted into a spin current within a few atomic layers. This insight provides a new perspective on the physics of the orbital Hall effect.