Magnetically confined states and transport property on the surface of a topological insulator

We study the electronic structure and transport for a quasi-one-dimensional channel constructed via two ferromagnetic (FM) stripes on the surface of a three-dimensional (3D) topological insulator (TI) in parallel (P) or antiparallel (AP) magnetization configuration along the vertical z$z$-direction. We demonstrate that the confined states which are localized inside the channel always exist due to the magnetic potential confinement. Interestingly, the channel is metallic because of the existence of a topologically protected gapless chiral edge mode in the case of AP configuration. The asymmetric spatial-distribution of both electron probability density and in-plane spin polarization for the confined states implies that in the case of P configuration there exists a chiral state near the channel edge owing to the Hamiltonian inversion symmetry broken in real space, while the distributions in AP case are always symmetry since the inversion symmetry is still kept. Furthermore, the transmission probability and the spatial-dependent distributions of charge and spin along a narrow–wide–narrow channel on the surface with P configuration confinement are also calculated, from which a fully in-plane spin-polarized electron output is achieved. Along with the mathematical analysis we provide an intuitive, topological understanding of these effects.     

A charge-current switch manipulated by the macroscopic quantum coherence of a single-molecule magnet

We report a theoretical analysis of electron transport through a quantum dot with an embedded biaxial single-molecule magnet, which is coupled to ferromagnetic electrodes of parallel and antiparallel magnet-configurations. For the antiparallel configuration of complete polarization it is shown that the originally prohibited electron transport can be opened up by the macroscopic quantum coherence of the molecular magnet, which provides a spin-flipping mechanism. The charge-current and differential conductance are controllable by variation of the magnitude and orientation of an external magnetic field, which in turn manipulates the macroscopic quantum coherence of the molecular magnet. Moreover, the transport can be switched off at particular values of the magnetic field, where the tunnel splitting is quenched by the quantum phase interference of tunnel paths.The transport current and differential conductance as functions of the electrode-polarization and magnetic field are extensively studied, which may be useful in practical applications. A new transport channel is found in the completely polarized parallel-configuration induced by the tunnel splitting of molecular magnet and resonance-peak splits of the conductance are observed in non-completely polarized configurations. 75.50.Xx Molecular magnets     

Inelastic tunneling of electrons through a quantum dot with an embedded single molecular magnet

We report a theoretical analysis of electron transport through a quantum dot with an embedded biaxial single-molecule magnet (SMM) based on mapping of the many-body interaction-system onto a one-body problem by means of the non-equilibrium Green function technique. It is found that the conducting current exhibits a stepwise behavior and the nonlinear differential conductance displays additional peaks with variation of the sweeping speed and the magnitude of magnetic field. This observation can be interpreted by the interaction of electron-spin with the SMM and the quantum tunneling of magnetization. The inelastic conductance and the corresponding tunneling processes are investigated with normal as well as ferromagnetic electrodes. In the case of ferromagnetic configuration, the coupling to the SMM leads to an asymmetric tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR), which can be enhanced or suppressed greatly in certain regions. Moreover, a sudden TMR-switch with the variation of magnetic field is observed, which is seen to be caused by the inelastic tunneling.     

Spin polarization and magnetoresistance through a ferromagnetic barrier in bilayer graphene

We study spin dependent transport through a magnetic bilayer graphene nanojunction configured as a two-dimensional normal/ferromagnetic/normal structure where the gate voltage is applied on the layers of ferromagnetic graphene. Based on the four-band Hamiltonian, conductance is calculated by using the Landauer-Buttiker formula at zero temperature. For a parallel configuration of the ferromagnetic layers of bilayer graphene, the energy band structure is metallic and spin polarization reaches its maximum value close to the resonant states, while for an antiparallel configuration the nanojunction behaves as a semiconductor and there is no spin filtering. As a result, a huge magnetoresistance is achievable by altering the configurations of ferromagnetic graphene around the band gap.     

Valley-dependent electron transport in ferromagnetic/normal/ferromagnetic silicene junction

The electron transport through ferromagnetic/normal/ferromagnetic silicene junction with an induced energy gap is investigated in this work. The energy gap can be tuned by applying electric field or exchange fields due to the buckled structure of silicene. We analyze the local electric field, exchange field, length of normal region-dependence transmission probabilities of four groups and valley conductance. These transmission probabilities and valley conductance can be turned on or off by adjusting the local electric field and exchange field. In particular, a fully valley polarized conductance with 80% transmission is found in this junction, which can be caused by the interplay of valley-dependent massive Dirac electron, the exchange potential and the on-site potential difference of sublattices. Our findings will benefit applications in silicene-based high performance nano-electronics.     

The magnetoresistance effect in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic barriers

The magnetoresistance (MR) effect is theoretically investigated in a periodic magnetically modulated nanostructure, which can be realized experimentally by depositing periodic parallel ferromagnetic strips on the top of a heterostructure. We find that there exists a significant conductance difference for electrons through the parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) magnetization configurations, which results in a considerable magnetoresistance effect. We also find that the magnetoresistance effect depends not only on the temperature but also on the number of the periodic magnetic barriers.     

Spin-dependent transport induced by magnetization in zigzag graphene nanoribbons coupled to one-dimensional leads

We study spin transport in a zigzag graphene nanoribbon sample with two ferromagnetic strips deposited on the two sides of the ribbon. A tight-binding Hamiltonian was adopted to describe the sample connected to two one-dimensional leads. Our theoretical study shows that the resonance peaks of conductance for the spin-up and spin-down electrons are separated for the parallel configuration of the ferromagnetic strips, while they are not separated for the case of antiparallel configuration. This means that giant magnetoresistance can be produced at particular energies by altering the configurations of the ferromagnetic strips, and the device can be designed as a spin filter.     

Spin-resolved edge states transport in a normal/ferromagnetic/normal topological insulator junction: The role of interface

The spin-resolved edge states transport in a normal/ferromagnetic/normal topological insulator (TI) junction is investigated numerically. It is shown that the transport properties of the hybrid junction strongly depend on the interface shape. For the junction with two sharp interfaces, a nonzero spin conductance can be generated besides the spin-split energy windows. Moreover, the axial symmetries of the in-plane spin conductance amplitude are broken. The underlying physics is attributed to the sharp-interface-induced quantum interference effect. However, for the hybrid junction with two smooth interfaces, a non-zero spin conductance can only be achieved in the spin-split energy windows. Further, the axial symmetries of the in-plane spin conductance amplitude recover. These findings may not only benefit to further apprehend the spin-dependent edge states transport in the hybrid TI junctions but also provide some theoretical bases to the application of the topological spintronics devices.     

Spin-polarized transport in a δ-doped magnetic-barrier nanostructure

We theoretically investigate the electron spin transport properties through a δ-doped magnetic-barrier nanostructure, which can be realized experimentally by depositing two identical ferromagnetic stripes with the opposite in-plane magnetization on the top of a semiconductor heterostructure in parallel configuration and by using atomic layer doping technique. The δ-doping dependent transmission, conductance and spin polarization are calculated exactly by analytically solving Schrödinger equation of the spin electron. It is found that the electronic spin-polarized behavior in this device can be manipulated by changing the weight and/or the position of the δ-doping. Therefore, such a device can be used as a controllable spin filter, which may be helpful for spintronics applications.     

Electrically controllable conductance and tunneling magnetoresistance through a topological insulator quantum well coupled to ferromagnetic electrodes

We theoretically investigate the electrically controllable conductance and tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) through a two-dimensional topological insulator (TI) quantum well sandwiched between ferromagnetic (FM) electrodes in the method of nonequilibrium Green’s function (GF). It is demonstrated that the inter-edge tunnelings modulated conductance for spin-up and spin-down carriers presents an opposite tend with the polarization of the FM electrodes. The system TMR from the spin-valve effect is observed to be up to 65,000 %, as can be significantly suppressed and enhanced by the backscattering and spin-dephasing effect of the inter-edge spin-conserving and spin-flipping tunneling, respectively, other than the quite different energy-dependent oscillation behavior. The obtained results may provide a deeper understanding of the TI edge states and be used to design a dissipationless spintronic device based on TIs.     

拓扑绝缘体基铁磁/f-波超导隧道结Andreev反射研究

基于Bogoliubov-de Gennes方程和Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk理论研究了三维拓扑绝缘体基铁磁/各向异性f-波超导隧道结的Andreev反射,其中f-波超导体选取f₁和f₂-波两种配对势.研究发现,对于f₁和f₂波,铁磁体中的磁能隙可以增强传统的Andreev逆向反射,但对Andreev镜面反射有抑制作用;但随着施加在超导体顶部电极上的栅极电位的增加,两种类型的反射都会增强.通过改变磁能隙,可以调节两种反射在准粒子输运过程中占有优势的程度.这些结果提供了一种实验检测拓扑绝缘体薄膜中镜面Andreev反射的方法.此外,隧穿电导和散粒噪声谱的差异可用于区分f₁和f₂波配对势.     

Magnetically Controlled Electronic Transport Properties of a Ferromagnetic Junction on the Surface of a Topological Insulator

We have investigated the transport properties of the Dirac fermions through a ferromagnetic barrier junction on the surface of a strong topological insulator.The current-voltage characteristic curve and the tunneling conductance are calculated theoretically.Two interesting transport features are predicted:observable negative differential conductances and linear conductances tunable from unit to nearly zero.These features can be magnetically manipulated simply by changing the spacial orientation of the magnetization.Our results may contribute to the development of high-speed switching and functional applications or electrically controlled magnetization switching.     

Velocity modulation of electron transport through a ferromagnetic silicene junction

We address velocity-modulation control of electron wave propagation in a normal/ferromagnetic/normal silicene junc tion with local variation of Fermi velocity, where the properties of charge, valley, and spin transport through the junction ar investigated. By matching the wavefunctions at the normal-ferromagnetic interfaces, it is demonstrated that the variation of Fermi velocity in a small range can largely enhance the total conductance while keeping the current nearly fully valley and spin-polarized. Further, the variation of Fermi velocity in ferromagnetic silicene has significant influence on the valley and spin polarization, especially in the low-energy regime. It may drastically reduce the high polarizations, which can b realized by adjusting the local application of a gate voltage and exchange field on the junction.     

Quantum modulation effect in a graphene-based magnetic tunnel junction

The electronic (quantum) transport in a NG/F_B/FG tunnel junction (where NG, F_B and FG are a normal graphene layer, a ferromagnetic barrier connected to a gate and a ferromagnetic graphene layer, respectively) is investigated. The motions of the electrons in the graphene layers are taken to be governed by the Dirac Equation. Parallel (P) and antiparallel alignment (AP) of the magnetizations in the barrier and in the ferromagnetic graphene are considered. Our work focuses on the oscillation of the electrical conductance (Gq), of the spin conductance (Gs) and of the tunneling magneto resistance (TMR) of this magnetic tunnel junction. We find that, the quantum modulation due to the effect of the exchange field in F_B will be seen in the plots the conductance and of the TMR as functions of the thickness of ferromagnetic barrier (L). The period of two multiplied sinusoidal terms of the modulation are seen to be controlled by varying the gate potential and the exchange field of the F_B layer. The phenomenon, a quantum beating, is built up with two oscillating spin conductance components which have different periods of oscillation related to the splitting of Dirac's energies in the F_B region. The amplitudes of oscillations of Gq, Gs and TMR are not seen to decrease as the thickness increases. The decaying behaviors seen in the conventional transport through an insulator do not appear.     

A scheme for a topological insulator field effect transistor

We propose a scheme for a topological insulator field effect transistor. The idea is based on the gate voltage control of the Dirac fermions in a ferromagnetic topological insulator channel with perpendicular magnetization connecting to two metallic topological insulator leads. Our theoretical analysis shows that the proposed device displays a switching effect with high on/off current ratio and a negative differential conductance with a good peak to valley ratio.     

Spin-Polarized Transport Through a Quantum Dot Coupled to Ferromagnetic Leads:Kondo Correlation Effect

We investigate the linear and nonlinear transport through a single level quantum dot connected to two ferromagnetic leads in Kondo regime, using the slave-boson mean-field approach for finite on-site Coulomb repulsion. We find that for antiparallel alignment of the spin orientations in the leads, a single zero-bias Kondo peak always appears in the voltage-dependent differential conductance with peak height going down to zero as the polarization grows to P=1. For parallel configuration, with increasing polarization from zero, the Kondo peak descends and greatly widens with the appearance of shoulders, and finally splits into two peaks on both sides of the bias voltage around P～0.7 until disappearing at even larger polarization strength. At any spin orientation angle θ, the linear conductance generally drops with growing polarization strength. For a given finite polarization, the minimum linear conductance always appears at θ=π.     

Ballistic electron propagation through periodic few-layer graphene nanostructures

We have studied electron propagation in periodic structures containing mono- and few-layer graphene regions and/or semiconducting stripes. The calculation of the transmission coefficient in all cases has been performed using transfer matrices inside regions with the same material/potential energy, as well as interface matrices between regions in which the evolution laws of charge carriers differ. Numerical simulations of the transmission coefficient, as well as of the low-temperature conductance, suggest that different periodic structures modulate differently the electrical current. The obtained results can be used to model ballistic transport in all-graphene devices, in particular in few-layer graphene structures.     

Macroscopic quantum coherence in a single molecular magnet and Kondo effect of electron transport

We report a Kondo-effect study of electron transport through a quantum dot with embedded biaxial single-molecule magnet based on slave boson mean-field theory and non-equilibrium Green-function technique. It is found the macroscopic quantum coherence of molecule-magnet results in the Kondo peak split of differential conductance due to interaction between electron and molecular magnet. It is also demonstrated that both the peak height and position can be controlled by the sweeping magnetic field and polarization of ferromagnetic electrodes. The characteristic peak split may be used to identify the macroscopic quantum coherence and develop molecule devices.     

Magnetization transport and quantized spin conductance

We analyze transport of magnetization in insulating systems described by a spin Hamiltonian. The magnetization current through a quasi-one-dimensional magnetic wire of finite length suspended between two bulk magnets is determined by the spin conductance which remains finite in the ballistic limit due to contact resistance. For ferromagnetic systems, magnetization transport can be viewed as transmission of magnons, and the spin conductance depends on the temperature T. For antiferromagnetic isotropic spin-1/2 chains, the spin conductance is quantized in units of order (gmu(B))(2)/h at T=0. Magnetization currents produce an electric field and, hence, can be measured directly. For magnetization transport in electric fields, phenomena analogous to the Hall effect emerge.     

Transport through a quantum dot coupled to two Majorana bound states

We investigate electron transport inside a ring system composed of a quantum dot (QD) coupled to two Majorana bound states confined at the ends of a one-dimensional topological superconductor nanowire. By tuning the magnetic flux threading through the ring, the model system we consider can be switched into states with or without zero-energy modes when the nanowire is in its topological phase. We find that the Fano profile in the conductance spectrum due to the interference between bound and continuum states exhibits markedly different features for these two different situations, which consequently can be used to detect the Majorana zero-energy mode. Most interestingly, as a periodic function of magnetic flux, the conductance shows 2π periodicity when the two Majorana bound states are nonoverlapping (as in an infinitely long nanowire) but displays 4π periodicity when the overlapping becomes nonzero (as in a finite length nanowire). We map the model system into a QD–Kitaev ring in the Majorana fermion representation and affirm these different characteristics by checking the energy spectrum.