Unconventional Magnetism and Dynamic Generation of Spin-Orbit Coupling

Spin-orbit coupling plays an important role in condensed matter physics, especially in the emerging science of spintronics. Conventionally, spin-orbit coupling originates from relativistic physics and is not directly related to many-body interactions. In this talk, we propose a conceptually new mechanism for the dynamic generation of spin-orbit coupling from unconventional magnetic phase transitions in strongly correlated systems. These unconventional magnetic phases possess topologically non-trivial spin configurations in momentum space, which result in various types of spin-orbit coupling. Possible directions for experimentally realizing these phases and detection methods are discussed.

Refs.
1. Congjun Wu, Kai Sun, Eduardo Fradkin, and Shou-Cheng Zhang, "Fermi liquid instabilities in the spin channel", cond-mat/0610326.
2. Congjun Wu, and Shou-Cheng Zhang, "Dynamic generation of spin-orbit coupling", Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 36403(2004).