Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Orbitronics seeks to convert orbital angular momentum (OAM) into spin, but its microscopic dynamics is not understood. Here I show that, at moderate spin-orbit coupling, an electrically induced spin density contains a direct term and an \textit{orbital-geometric spin response} (OGSR) due to inter-band coherence of the spinless parent Hamiltonian---related to OAM but not descended from it. In massive Dirac fermions the OGSR survives as the net OAM vanishes, and generates \textit{counterflow}, opposing the direct response. These results provide guidelines for optimising orbitronic systems.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Author: Culcer, Dimitrie
Institution: UNSW Sydney
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Australian Research Council
Award: G4773859492
OpenAlex ID: W7212677592