Nonlinear spin and orbital Rashba-Edelstein effects induced by a femtosecond laser pulse: Simulations for Au(001)

Abstract

Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling gives rise to distinctive surface and interface phenomena, such as spin-momentum locking and spin splitting. In nonequilibrium settings, one of the key manifestations is the (Rashba-)Edelstein effect, where an electric current generates a net spin or orbital polarization perpendicular to the current direction. While the steady-state behavior of these effects is well studied, their dynamics on ultrafast timescales remain largely unexplored. In this work, we present a theoretical investigation of the ultrafast spin and orbital Edelstein effects on an Au(001) surface, triggered by excitation with a femtosecond laser pulse. These effects are intrinsic and inherently nonlinear. Using a real-space tight-binding model combined with time evolution governed by the von Neumann equation, we simulate the electron dynamics in response to the pulse. Our results reveal pronounced differences between the spin and orbital responses, offering detailed insights into their distinct temporal profiles and magnitudes. We further explore the associated charge, spin, and orbital currents, including the emergence of laser-induced spin and orbital Hall effects. Finally, we quantify the angular momentum transfer mediated by the light-matter interaction. These findings shed light on the intricate ultrafast dynamics driven by spin-orbit coupling and offer guidance for the design of next-generation spintronic and orbitronic devices.

arXiv comment12 pages, 6 figures. This work is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - Project-ID 328545488 - TRR 227, project B04. This work was supported by the EIC Pathfinder OPEN grant 101129641 Orbital Engineering for Innovative Electronics

References in corpus (25)

• Anomalous Hall effect arising from noncollinear antiferromagnetism
• Giant Spin-splitting in the Bi/Ag(111) Surface Alloy
• Berry phase effect in anomalous thermoelectric transport
• Intrinsic Spin and Orbital Hall Effects from Orbital Texture
• Quantum Theory of Orbital Magnetization and its Generalization to Interacting Systems
• Temperature dependence of spin diffusion length and spin Hall angle in Au and Pt
• Orbitronics: Orbital Currents in Solids
• Gyrotropic magnetic effect and the magnetic moment on the Fermi surface
• Diffuse transport and spin accumulation in a Rashba two-dimensional electron gas
• Theory of Current-Induced Angular Momentum Transfer Dynamics in Spin-Orbit Coupled Systems
• Surface orbitronics: new twists from orbital Rashba physics
• Orbital Edelstein effect as a condensed-matter analog of solenoid
• Orbitally Dominated Rashba-Edelstein Effect in Noncentrosymmetric Antiferromagnets
• Spin-order dependent anomalous Hall effect and magneto-optical effect in noncollinear antiferromagnets Mn${}_{3}X$N ($X$ = Ga, Zn, Ag, and Ni)
• Spin Hall effect emerging from a chiral magnetic lattice without spin-orbit coupling
• Spin and orbital Edelstein effect in an oxide two-dimensional electron gas: theory and application to AlO${}_x$/SrTiO${}_3$
• Orbital-driven Rashba effect in a binary honeycomb monolayer AgTe
• Light-Induced Static Magnetization: Nonlinear Edelstein Effect
• Ultrafast Orbital Hall Effect in Metallic Nanoribbons
• Ultrafast spin dynamics in inhomogeneous systems: a density-matrix approach applied to Co/Cu interfaces
• Ultrafast Dynamics of Orbital Angular Momentum of Electrons Induced by Femtosecond Laser Pulses: Generation and Transfer Across Interfaces
• Chirality-induced orbital Edelstein effect in an analytically solvable model
• Ultrafast dynamics of electrons excited by femtosecond laser pulses: spin polarization and spin-polarized currents
• Nonlinear spin and orbital Edelstein effect in WTe2
• Ultrafast spin dynamics: complementing theoretical analyses by quantum-information measures

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Three-dimensional topological orbital Hall effect caused by magnetic hopfions