Gilbert damping and spin Coulomb drag in a magnetized electron liquid with spin-orbit interaction

Abstract

We present a microscopic calculation of the Gilbert damping constant for the magnetization of a two-dimensional spin- polarized electron liquid in the presence of intrinsic spin-orbit interaction. First, we show that the Gilbert constant can be expressed in terms of the autocorrelation function of the spin-orbit induced torque. Then, we specialize to the case of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction and we show that the Gilbert constant in this model is related to the spin-channel conductivity. This allows us to study the Gilbert damping constant in different physical regimes, characterized by the interplay of different energy scales—spin-orbit coupling, Zeeman coupling, momentum relaxation rate, spin Coulomb drag relaxation rate, and driving frequency—and to discuss its behavior in various limits. Particular attention is paid to electron-electron interaction effects, which enter the spin conductivity and hence the Gilbert damping constant via the spin Coulomb drag coefficient.