The ratio of the Zeeman splitting to the cyclotron energy ($M=Delta E_{rm Z}/hbar omega_{rm c}$) for hole-like carriers in bismuth has been quantified with a great precision by many experiments performed during the past five decades. It exceeds 2 whe
n the magnetic field is along the trigonal axis and vanishes in the perpendicular configuration. Theoretically, however, $M$ is expected to be isotropic and equal to unity in a two-band Dirac model. We argue that a solution to this half-a-century-old puzzle can be found by extending the $kcdot p$ theory to multiple bands. Our model not only gives a quantitative account of magnitude and anisotropy of $M$ for hole-like carriers in bismuth, but also explains its contrasting evolution with antimony doping pressure, both probed by new experiments reported here. The present results have important implications for the magnitude and anisotropy of $M$ in other systems with strong spin-orbit coupling.
Bismuth crystal is known for its remarkable properties resulting from particular electronic states, e. g., the Shubnikov-de Haas effect and the de Haas-van Alphen effect. Above all, the large diamagnetism of bismuth had been a long-standing puzzle so
on after the establishment of quantum mechanics, which had been resolved eventually in 1970 based on the effective Hamiltonian derived by Wolff as due to the interband effects of a magnetic field in the presence of a large spin-orbit interaction. This Hamiltonian is essentially the same as the Dirac Hamiltonian, but with spatial anisotropy and an effective velocity much smaller than the light velocity. This paper reviews recent progress in the theoretical understanding of transport and optical properties, such as the weak-field Hall effect together with the spin Hall effect, and ac conductivity, of a system described by the Wolff Hamiltonian and its isotropic version with a special interest of exploring possible relationship with orbital magnetism. It is shown that there exist a fundamental relationship between spin Hall conductivity and orbital susceptibility in the insulating state on one hand, and the possibility of fully spin-polarized electric current in magneto-optics. Experimental tests of these interesting features have been proposed.
Spin-Hall conductivity $sigma_{{rm s}xy}$ and orbital susceptibility $chi$ are investigated for the anisotropic Wolff Hamiltonian, which is an effective Hamiltonian common to Dirac electrons in solids. It is found that, both for $sigma_{{rm s}xy}$ an
d $chi$, the effect of anisotropy appears only in the prefactors, which is given as the Gaussian curvature of the energy dispersion, and their functional forms are equivalent to those of the isotropic Wolff Hamiltonian. As a result, it is revealed that the relationship between the spin Hall conductivity and the orbital susceptibility in the insulating state, $sigma_{{rm s}xy}=(3mc^2/hbar e)chi$, which was firstly derived for the isotropic Wolff Hamiltonian, is also valid for the anisotropic Wolff Hamiltonian. Based on this theoretical finding, the magnitude of spin-Hall conductivity is estimated for bismuth and its alloys with antimony by that of orbital susceptibility, which has good correspondence between theory and experiments. The magnitude of spin-Hall conductivity turns out to be as large as $esigma_{{rm s}xy} sim 10^4 {Omega}^{-1}{rm cm}^{-1}$, which is about 100 times larger than that of Pt.
We investigate properties below T_c of odd-frequency pairing which is realized by antiferromagnetic critical spin fluctuations or spin wave modes. It is shown that Delta(epsilon_n) becomes maximum at finite epsilon_n, and Delta(pi T) becomes maximum
at finite T. Implications of the present results to the experimental results of CeCu_2Si_2 and CeRhIn_5 are given.
Upper critical field, H_c2, in quasi-1D superconductors is investigated by the weak coupling renormalization group technique. It is shown that H_c2 greatly exceeds not only the Pauli limit, but also the conventional paramagnetic limit of the Flude-Fe
rrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state. This increase is mainly due to quasi-1D fluctuations effect as triggered by interference between unconventional superconductivity and density-wave instabilities. Our results give a novel viewpoint on the large H_c2 observed in TMTSF-salts in terms of a d-wave FFLO state that is predicted to be verified by the H_c2 measurements under pressure.
Spin-Hall conductivity (SHC) of fully relativistic (4x4 matrix) Dirac electrons is studied based on the Kubo formula aiming at possible application to bismuth and bismuth-antimony alloys. It is found that there are two distinct contributions to SHC,
one only from the states near the Fermi energy and the other from all the occupied states. The latter remains even in the insulating state, i.e., when the chemical potential lies in the band-gap, and turns to have the same dependences on the chemical potential as the orbital susceptibility (diamagnetism), a surprising fact. These results are applied to bismuth-antimony alloys and the doping dependence of the SHC is proposed.
A mechanism is proposed based on the Kubo formula to generate a spin-polarized magneto-optical current of Dirac electrons in solids which have strong spin-orbit interactions such as bismuth. The ac current response functions are calculated in the iso
tropic Wolff model under an external magnetic field, and the selection rules for Dirac electrons are obtained. By using the circularly polarized light and tuning its frequency, one can excite electrons concentrated in the spin-polarized lowest Landau level when the chemical potential locates in the band gap, so that spin-polarization in the magneto-optical current can be achieved.
