Hall effect and orbital magnetism of Dirac electrons with spin-orbit interactions

Abstract

Hall effects and orbital magnetism are investigated for Dirac electrons in solid with spin-orbit interactions. The conductivity, the Hall conductivity, the Hall coefficient and the orbital susceptibility are calculated on the basis of the gauge-invariant Kubo formula in the Luttinger-Kohn representation. The Hall coefficient exhibits peaks at the band-edge and changes its sign at the middle of the band gap. A novel contribution to the Hall conductivity, which is generated by the interband effects of a magnetic field, is found near the band-edge region. The origin of this novel contribution is discussed referring to the orbital susceptibility. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.