Charge-to-Spin Interconversion in Low-Symmetry Topological Materials

The spin polarization induced by the spin Hall effect (SHE) in thin films typically points out of the plane. This is rooted not in a fundamental constraint but on the specific symmetries of traditionally studied systems. We theoretically show that the reduced symmetry of strong spin-orbit coupling materials such as ${rm MoTe}_2$ or ${rm WTe}_2$ enables new forms of intrinsic SHE that produce large and robust in-plane spin polarizations. Through quantum transport calculations on realistic device geometries with disorder, we show that the charge-to-spin interconversion efficiency can reach $theta_{xy} approx 80$% and is gate tunable. The numerically extracted spin diffusion lengths ($lambda_s$) are long and yield large values of the figure of merit $lambda_stheta_{xy}sim 8text{--}10$ nm, largely superior to conventional SHE materials. These findings vividly emphasize how crystal symmetry governs the intrinsic SHE, and how it can be exploited to broaden the range and efficiency of spintronic functionalities.