Optically Induced Spin-Hall Effect in Atoms

Xiong-Jun Liu, Xin Liu, L. C. Kwek, and C. H. Oh

Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 026602 – Published 11 January 2007

Abstract

We propose an optical means to realize the spin-Hall effect (SHE) in a neutral atomic system by coupling the internal spin states of atoms to radiation. The interaction between the external optical fields and the atoms creates effective magnetic fields that act in opposite directions on “electrically” neutral atoms with opposite spin polarizations. This effect leads to a Landau level structure for each spin orientation in direct analogy with the familiar SHE in semiconductors. The conservation and topological properties of the spin current, and the creation of a pure spin current are discussed.

Received 18 April 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.026602

Authors & Affiliations

Xiong-Jun Liu^1,*, Xin Liu^2,3, L. C. Kwek^1,4, and C. H. Oh^1,†

¹Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542
²Department of Physics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-4242, USA
³Theoretical Physics Division, Chern Institute of Mathematics, Tianjin 300071, People’s Republic of China
⁴National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 639798

^*Electronic address: phylx@nus.edu.sg
^†Electronic address: phyohch@nus.edu.sg

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Vol. 98, Iss. 2 — 12 January 2007

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