Spin motive force induced by Rashba interaction in the strong sd coupling regime

Abstract

Spin motive force induced by the Rashba interaction in the presence of strong sd interaction between conduction electron and localized spin is theoretically studied. The motive force is calculated by evaluating the time derivative of the current density on the basis of microscopic formalism. It is shown that there are two motive forces, one proportional to E-R x (n) over dot, the other, perpendicular component proportional to E-R x (n x (n) over dot), where ER and n are the Rashba electric field and localized spin direction, respectively. The second type arises in the strong sd coupling regime from the spin relaxation. The appearance of perpendicular component from the spin relaxation is understood from the analogy with the current-induced torques. In the case of domain wall motion, the two contributions to the spin motive force are the same order of magnitude, while the first term dominates in the case of precession of uniform magnetization. Our result explains the appearance of the perpendicular component in the weak sd coupling limit, recently discussed in the context of spin damping monopole. Detection of ac voltage induced by the precession of uniform magnetization serves as a experimental evidence of the Rashba interaction in films and wires. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.054403