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Microscopic theory of the inverse spin galvanic effect in anisotropic Rashba models

Alessandro Veneri1,2, Francesco Quintavalle2,4, Thierry Valet3, and Roberto Raimondi2

  • 1Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Elettronica e Telecomunicazioni, Università La Sapienza, Via Eudossiana, 18, 00184 Roma, Italy
  • 2Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università Roma Tre, Via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy
  • 3MPhysX OÜ, Harju maakond, Tallinn, Lasnamäe linnaosa, Sepapaja tn 6, 15551, Estonia
  • 4School of Science and Technology, Physics Division, Università di Camerino, Via Madonna delle Carceri, 62032 Camerino (MC), Italy

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 125432 – Published 27 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/b675-4wsd

Abstract

The Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is a well-known mechanism for the spin-charge interconversion via the inverse and direct spin galvanic effects. The lack of a full inversion symmetry allows the coupling of the charge current and spin density. In this paper we investigate this phenomenon when the in-plane rotational symmetry is lowered to the C2v and C3v symmetry groups, whereby the electron spectrum becomes anisotropic. We find that in the C2v case, depending on the ratio between the Rashba SOC strengths along the principal axes, the nonequilibrium spin density deviates notably from the 90∘ rotation, with respect to the applied electric field, which is familiar in the isotropic case. In the C3v case, when a warping cubic in momentum term is present, whereas the standard 90∘ rotation of the spin density remains, the spin-charge interconversion depends on the intensity of the warping itself. The microscopic theory takes into account disorder including vertex corrections, via both the diagrammatic implementation of the Kubo formula and the quantum kinetic theory. We show that vertex corrections are crucial to capture the details of the inverse spin galvanic effect in contrast to previous treatments based on the constant broadening approximation.

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Phys. Rev. B 113, 125432– Published 27 March, 2026
  • Received 5 December 2025
  • Revised 29 January 2026
  • Accepted 10 March 2026
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