Role of Disorder in the Intrinsic Orbital Hall Effect

Abstract

We investigate the effect of random defect scattering on the orbital Hall effect by solving a quantum Boltzmann equation. Depending on the specific orbital textures, diffuse scattering by an \emph{arbitrarily} weak disorder can affect and even fully suppress an intrinsic orbital Hall current. From the results for a simple model, we infer that disorder can play an important role in orbitronics in general.