Surface currents in Hall devices

Abstract

A variational approach is used in order to study the stationary states of Hall devices. Charge accumulation, electric potentials and electric currents are investigated on the basis of the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz principle of least heat dissipation. A simple expression for the state of minimum power dissipated -- that corresponds to zero transverse current and harmonic chemical potential -- is derived. It is shown that a longitudinal surface current proportional to the charge accumulation is flowing near the edges of the device. Charge accumulation and surface currents define a boundary layer over a distance of the order of the Debye-Fermi length.

arXiv comment9 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Anomalous Hall effect
• Minimum dissipation principle in stationary non equilibrium states
• On the validity of entropy production principles for linear electrical circuits
• Self-consistent calculation of electric potentials in Hall devices
• Conditions for the generation of spin currents in spin-Hall devices
• Variational approach to the stationary spin-Hall effect

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Physical properties of the Hall current
• Stochastic description of the stationary Hall effect
• Power efficiency of Hall-like devices: comparison between reciprocal and anti-reciprocal Onsager relations
• Screening effect in Spin-Hall Devices