Orbital Magnetization in Insulators: Bulk vs. Surface
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
2016-05-25 v2
Abstract
The orbital magnetic moment of a finite piece of matter is expressed in terms of the one-body density matrix as a simple trace. We address a macroscopic system, insulating in the bulk, and we show that its orbital moment is the sum of a bulk term and a surface term, both extensive. The latter only occurs when the transverse conductivity is nonzero and owes to conducting surface states. Simulations on a model Hamiltonian validate our theory.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1508.00993,
title = {Orbital Magnetization in Insulators: Bulk vs. Surface},
author = {Raffaello Bianco and Raffaele Resta},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.00993},
year = {2016}
}