Enhanced spin Hall effect in semiconductor heterostructures with artificial potential

Abstract

We theoretically investigate an extrinsic spin Hall effect (SHE) in semiconductor heterostructures due to the scattering by an artificial potential created by antidot, STM tip, etc. The potential is electrically tunable. First, we formulate the SHE in terms of phase shifts in the partial wave expansion for two-dimensional electron gas. The effect is significantly enhanced by the resonant scattering when the attractive potential is properly tuned. Second, we examine a three-terminal device including an antidot, which possibly produces a spin current with polarization of more than 50%.