Extrinsic and Intrinsic Contributions to the Spin Hall Effect of Alloys

A fully relativistic description of the spin-orbit induced spin Hall effect is presented that is based on Kubo's linear response formalism. Using an appropriate operator for the spin-current density a Kubo-Streda-like equation for the spin Hall conductivity (SHC) is obtained. An implementation using the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker band structure method in combination with the coherent potential approximation allow detailed investigations on various alloy systems. A decomposition of the SHC into intrinsic and extrinsic contributions is suggested. Accompanying calculations for the skew-scattering contribution of the SHC using the Boltzmann equation demonstrate the equivalence to the Kubo formalism in the dilute alloy regime and support the suggested decomposition scheme.