Work

Orbital magnetization from interface reflections in a conductor with charge current

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: We propose that a high-quality flat interface or boundary can serve as a long-range skew scatterer for charged quasiparticles in a metal. When an electric current flows parallel to the interface, the balance between clockwise and counterclockwise reflections is disrupted, leading to a net orbital magnetization. This magnetization is maximized at the interface and varies linearly in the direction perpendicular to it. We suggest that this effect can be detected using spatially resolved Kerr effect measurements at distances up to the electron phase coherence length from the interface. Unlike the orbital Hall and orbital Edelstein effects, the proposed phenomenon does not require inversion symmetry breaking in the bulk of the sample and is unrelated to Hall effect physics.

Source: Physical review. B./Physical review. B

DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.111.l121402

Authors: J. Voss, I. A. Ado, M. Titov

Institution: Radboud University Nijmegen

Language: English

Topic: Quantum and electron transport phenomena

Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Commission, Horizon 2020

Awards: Hydrodynamic electronics, G434337789