Spin torques and charge transport on the surface of topological insulator

Abstract

We study various aspects of interplay between two-dimensional helical electrons, realized on the surface of a three-dimensional topological insulator, and the magnetization of a ferromagnet coupled to them. The magnetization is assumed to be perpendicular to the surface, with small transverse fluctuations $\mathbit{u}$. In the first part of this paper, we calculate spin torques that the helical electrons exert on the magnetization. Up to first orders with respect to $\mathbit{u}$, space/time derivative and electric current, we have determined all torques, which include Gilbert damping, spin renormalization, current-induced spin-orbit torques, and gradient corrections to them. Thanks to the identity between the velocity and spin in this model, these torques have exact interpretation in terms of transport phenomena, namely, diagonal conductivity, (anomalous) Hall conductivity, and corrections to them due to ordinary Hall effect on top of the anomalous one. These torque (and transport) coefficients are studied in detail with particular attention to the effects of vertex corrections and type of impurities (normal and magnetic). It is shown rigorously that the conventional current-induced torques, namely, spin-transfer torque and the so-called $\ensuremath{\beta}$ term, are absent. An electromotive force generated by spin dynamics, which is the inverse to the current-induced spin-orbit torque, is also studied. In the second part, we study the feedback effects arising as combinations of current-induced spin-orbit torques and spin-dynamics-induced electromotive force. It is demonstrated that the Gilbert damping process in this system is completely understood as a feedback effect. Another feedback effect, which may be called ``magnon-drag electrical conductivity,'' is shown to violate the exact correspondence between spin-torque and transport phenomena demonstrated in the first part.