Spin texturing in quantum wires with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions and in-plane magnetic field

In this work, we investigate the effects of interplay of spin–orbit interaction and in-plane magnetic fields on the electronic structure and spin texturing of parabolically confined quantum wire. Numerical results reveal that the competing effects between Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions and the external magnetic field lead to a complicated energy spectrum. We find that the spin texturing owing to the coupling between subbands can be modified by the strength of spin–orbit couplings as well as the magnitude and the orientation angle of the external magnetic field.     

Spin switching in antiferromagnets using Néel-order spin-orbit torques

Antiferromagnets offer considerable potential for electronic device applications. This article reviews recent demonstrations of spin manipulation in antiferromagnetic devices using applied electrical currents. Due to spin–orbit coupling in environments with particular crystalline or structural symmetries, the electric current can induce an effective magnetic field with a sign that alternates on the lengthscale of the unit cell. The staggered effective field provides an efficient mechanism for switching antiferromagnetic domains and moving antiferromagnetic domain walls, with writing speeds in the terahertz regime.     

Global phase diagram of a spin–orbit-coupled Kondo lattice model on the honeycomb lattice

Motivated by the growing interest in the novel quantum phases in materials with strong electron correlations and spin–orbit coupling, we study the interplay among the spin–orbit coupling, Kondo interaction, and magnetic frustration of a Kondo lattice model on a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice.We calculate the renormalized electronic structure and correlation functions at the saddle point based on a fermionic representation of the spin operators.We find a global phase diagram of the model at half-filling, which contains a variety of phases due to the competing interactions.In addition to a Kondo insulator, there is a topological insulator with valence bond solid correlations in the spin sector, and two antiferromagnetic phases.Due to the competition between the spin–orbit coupling and Kondo interaction, the direction of the magnetic moments in the antiferromagnetic phases can be either within or perpendicular to the lattice plane.The latter antiferromagnetic state is topologically nontrivial for moderate and strong spin–orbit couplings.     

Thermodynamic behaviour of Rashba quantum dot in the presence of magnetic field

The thermodynamic properties of an In Sb quantum dot have been investigated in the presence of Rashba spin–orbit interaction and a static magnetic field. The energy spectrum and wave-functions for the system are obtained by solving the Schrodinger wave-equation analytically. These energy levels are employed to calculate the specific heat, entropy,magnetization and susceptibility of the quantum dot system using canonical formalism. It is observed that the system is susceptible to maximum heat absorption at a particular value of magnetic field which depends on the Rashba coupling parameter as well as the temperature. The variation of specific heat shows a Schottky-like anomaly in the low temperature limit and rapidly converges to the value of 2kB with the further increase in temperature. The entropy of the quantum dot is found to be inversely proportional to the magnetic field but has a direct variation with temperature. The substantial effect of Rashba spin–orbit interaction on the magnetic properties of quantum dot is observed at low values of magnetic field and temperature.     

Negative tunnelling magnetoresistance in spin filtering magnetic junctions with spin-orbit coupling

We present theoretical calculations of spin transport in spin filtering magnetic tunnelling junctions based on the Landauer-Buttiker formalism and taking into account the spin-orbit coupling(SOC).It is shown that spin-flip scattering induced by SOC is stronger in parallel alignment of magnetization of the ferromegnet barrier(FB) and the ferromagnetic electrode than that in antiparallel case.The increase of negative tunnelling magnetoresistance with bias is in agreement with recent experimental observation.     

Tailoring magnetism in semiconductors

正While logic devices in conventional electronics rely on the control of the charged carriers in the semiconductor chips,robust information storage in computer hard drives and magnetic random access memory is implemented using the carriers’spin in ferromagnetic metals.A long quest to realize magnetic semiconductors[1-3]can be simply summarized as:1+12,in hope that combining the control of charge and spin in a single material would become more than just the sum of its separate parts(charge and spin)and enable new or improved functionalities[3].Indeed,there are intriguing     

Spin texturing in a parabolically confined quantum wire with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions

In this study, we investigate theoretically the effect of spin–orbit coupling on the energy level spectrum and spin texturing of a quantum wire with a parabolic confining potential subjected to the perpendicular magnetic field. Highly accurate numerical calculations have been carried out using a finite element method. Our results reveal that the interplay between the spin–orbit interaction and the effective magnetic field significantly modifies the band structure, producing additional subband extrema and energy gaps. Competing effects between external field and spin–orbit interactions introduce complex features in spin texturing owing to the couplings in energy subbands. We obtain that spatial modulation of the spin density along the wire width can be considerably modified by the spin–orbit coupling strength, magnetic field and charge carrier concentration.     

Interplay of Rashba effect and spin Hall effect in perpendicular Pt/Co/MgO magnetic multilayers

The interplay of the Rashba effect and the spin Hall effect originating from current induced spin–orbit coupling was investigated in the as-deposited and annealed Pt/Co/MgO stacks with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The above two effects were analyzed based on Hall measurements under external magnetic fields longitudinal and vertical to dc current,respectively. The coercive field as a function of dc current in vertical mode with only the Rashba effect involved decreases due to thermal annealing. Meanwhile, spin orbit torques calculated from Hall resistance with only the spin Hall effect involved in the longitudinal mode decrease in the annealed sample. The experimental results prove that the bottom Pt/Co interface rather than the Co/MgO top one plays a more critical role in both Rashba effect and spin Hall effect.     

Spin transport properties of a Dresselhaus-polygonal quantum ring

We propose a theoretical method to investigate the effect of the Dresselhaus spin–orbit coupling(DSOC) on the spin transport properties of a regular polygonal quantum ring with an arbitrary number of segments. We find that the DSOC can break the time reversal symmetry of the spin conductance in a polygonal ring and that this property can be used to reverse the spin direction of electrons in the polygon with the result that a pure spin up or pure spin down conductance can be obtained by exchanging the source and the drain. When the DSOC is considered in a polygonal ring with Rashba spin–orbit coupling(RSOC) with symmetric attachment of the leads, the total conductance is independent of the number of segments when both of the two types of spin–orbit coupling(SOC) have the same value. However, the interaction of the two types of SOC results in an anisotropic and shape-dependent conductance in a polygonal ring with asymmetric attachment of the leads. The method we proposed to solve for the spin conductance of a polygon can be generalized to the circular model.     

Pure spin polarized transport based on Rashba spin orbit interaction through the Aharonov Bohm interferometer embodied four-quantum-dot ring

The spin-polarized linear conductance spectrum and current-voltage characteristics in a four-quantum-dot ring embodied into Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer are investigated theoretically by considering a local Rashba spin-orbit interaction. It shows that the spin-polarized linear conductance and the corresponding spin polarization are each a function of magnetic flux phase at zero bias voltage with a period of 2π, and that Hubbard U cannot influence the electron transport properties in this case. When adjusting appropriately the structural parameter of inter-dot coupling and dot-lead coupling strength, the electronic spin polarization can reach a maximum value. Furthermore, by adjusting the bias voltages applied to the leads, the spin-up and spin-down currents move in opposite directions and pure spin current exists in the configuration space in appropriate situations. Based on the numerical results, such a model can be applied to the design of a spin filter device.     

Generalized Rashba Coupling Approximation to a Resonant Spin Hall Effect of the Spin–Orbit Coupling System in a Magnetic Field

We introduce a generalized Rashba coupling approximation to analytically solve confined two-dimensional electron systems with both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit couplings in an external magnetic field. A solvable Hamiltonian is obtained by performing a simple change of basis, which has the same form as that with only Rashba coupling. Each Landau state becomes a new displaced-Fock state instead of the original Harmonic oscillator Fock state. Analytical energies are consistent with the numerical ones in a wide range of coupling strength even for a strong Zeeman splitting, exhibiting the validity of the analytical approximation. By using the eigenstates, spin polarization correctly displays a jump at the energy-level crossing point, where the corresponding spin conductance exhibits a pronounced resonant peak. As the component of the Dresselhaus coupling increases,the resonant point shifts to a smaller value of the magnetic field. In contrast to pure Rashba couplings, we find that the Dresselhaus coupling and Zeeman splittings tend to suppress the resonant spin Hall effect. Our method provides an easy-to-implement analytical treatment to two-dimensional electron gas systems with both types of spin–orbit couplings by applying a magnetic field.     

Spin flip in single quantum ring with Rashba spin–orbit interation

We theoretically investigate spin transport in the elliptical ring and the circular ring with Rashba spin–orbit interaction.It is shown that when Rashba spin–orbit interaction is relatively weak, a single circular ring can not realize spin flip, however an elliptical ring may work as a spin-inverter at this time, and the influence of the defect of the geometry is not obvious.Howerver if a giant Rashba spin–orbit interaction strength has been obtained, a circular ring can work as a spin-inverter with a high stability.     

A review of current research on spin currents and spin–orbit torques

Spintronics is a new discipline focusing on the research and application of electronic spin properties. After the discovery of the giant magnetoresistance effect in 1988, spintronics has had a huge impact on scientific progress and related applications in the development of information technology. In recent decades, the main motivation in spintronics has been efficiently controlling local magnetization using electron flow or voltage rather than controlling the electron flow using magnetization. Using spin–orbit coupling in a material can convert a charge current into a pure spin current(a flow of spin momenta without a charge flow) and generate a spin–orbit torque on the adjacent ferromagnets. The ability of spintronic devices to utilize spin-orbit torques to manipulate the magnetization has resulted in large-scale developments such as magnetic random-access memories and has boosted the spintronic research area. Here in, we review the theoretical and experimental results that have established this subfield of spintronics. We introduce the concept of a pure spin current and spin-orbit torques within the experimental framework, and we review transport-, magnetization-dynamics-, and opticalbased measurements and link then to both phenomenological and microscopic theories of the effect. The focus is on the related progress reported from Chinese universities and institutes, and we specifically highlight the contributions made by Chinese researchers.     

Magnetic interactions in a proposed diluted magnetic semiconductor(Ba_(1-x)K_x)(Zn_(1-y)Mn_y)_2P_2

By using first-principles electronic structure calculations, we have studied the magnetic interactions in a proposed BaZn_2P_2-based diluted magnetic semiconductor(DMS). For a typical compound Ba(Zn_(0.944)Mn_(0.056))_2P_2 with only spin doping, due to the superexchange interaction between Mn atoms and the lack of itinerant carriers, the short-range antiferromagnetic coupling dominates. Partially substituting K atoms for Ba atoms, which introduces itinerant hole carriers into the p orbitals of P atoms so as to link distant Mn moments with the spin-polarized hole carriers via the p–d hybridization between P and Mn atoms, is very crucial for the appearance of ferromagnetism in the compound. Furthermore, applying hydrostatic pressure first enhances and then decreases the ferromagnetic coupling in(Ba0.75 K0.25)(Zn_(0.944)Mn_(0.056))_2P_2 at a turning point around 15 GPa, which results from the combined effects of the pressure-induced variations of electron delocalization and p–d hybridization. Compared with the BaZn_2 As_2-based DMS, the substitution of P for As can modulate the magnetic coupling effectively. Both the results for BaZn_2 P_2-based and BaZn_2As_2-based DMSs demonstrate that the robust antiferromagnetic(AFM) coupling between the nearest Mn–Mn pairs bridged by anions is harmful to improving the performance of these Ⅱ–Ⅱ–Ⅴ based DMS materials.     

Enhancing von Neumann entropy by chaos in spin–orbit entanglement

For a quantum system with multiple degrees of freedom or subspaces, loss of coherence in a certain subspace is intimately related to the enhancement of entanglement between this subspace and another one. We investigate intra-particle entanglement in two-dimensional mesoscopic systems, where an electron has both spin and orbital degrees of freedom and the interaction between them is enabled by Rashba type of spin–orbit coupling. The geometric shape of the scattering region can be adjusted to produce a continuous spectrum of classical dynamics with different degree of chaos. Focusing on the spin degree of freedom in the weak spin–orbit coupling regime, we find that classical chaos can significantly enhance spin–orbit entanglement at the expense of spin coherence. Our finding that classical chaos can be beneficial to intra-particle entanglement may have potential applications such as enhancing the bandwidth of quantum communications.     

Magnetization Reversal of Single-Molecular Magnets by a Spin-Polarized Current

We study the magnetization reversal of single-molecular magnets by a spin-polarized current in the framework of the spinor Boltzmann equation. Because of the spin–orbit coupling, the spin-polarized current will impose a non-zero spin transfer torque on the single-molecular magnets, which will induce the magnetization switching of the latter. Via the s–d exchange interaction between the conducting electrons and single-molecular magnets,we can investigate the magnetization dynamics of single-molecular magnets. We demonstrate the dynamics of the magnetization based on the spin diffusion equation and the Heisenberg-like equation. The results show that when the current is large enough, the magnetization of the single-molecular magnets can be reversed. We also calculate the critical current density required for the magnetization reversal under different anisotropy and external magnetic fields, which is helpful for the corresponding experimental design.     

Quantum spin Hall and quantum valley Hall effects in trilayer graphene and their topological structures

The present study pertains to the trilayer graphene in the presence of spin orbit coupling to probe the quantum spin/valley Hall effect. The spin Chern-number C_s for energy-bands of trilayer graphene having the essence of intrinsic spin–orbit coupling is analytically calculated. We find that for each valley and spin, C_s is three times larger in trilayer graphene as compared to single layer graphene. Since the spin Chern-number corresponds to the number of edge states,consequently the trilayer graphene has edge states, three times more in comparison to single layer graphene. We also study the trilayer graphene in the presence of both electric-field and intrinsic spin–orbit coupling and investigate that the trilayer graphene goes through a phase transition from a quantum spin Hall state to a quantum valley Hall state when the strength of the electric field exceeds the intrinsic spin coupling strength. The robustness of the associated topological bulk-state of the trilayer graphene is evaluated by adding various perturbations such as Rashba spin–orbit(RSO) interaction αR, and exchange-magnetization M. In addition, we consider a theoretical model, where only one of the outer layers in trilayer graphene has the essence of intrinsic spin–orbit coupling, while the other two layers have zero intrinsic spin–orbit coupling.Although the first Chern number is non-zero for individual valleys of trilayer graphene in this model, however, we find that the system cannot be regarded as a topological insulator because the system as a whole is not gaped.     

Charge and spin-dependent thermal efficiency of polythiophene molecular junction in presence of dephasing

The charge and spin-dependent thermoelectric properties of different lengths of polythiophene in a molecular junction are investigated using the B ¨uttiker probe method within Green function formalism in linear response regime. The coupling of the molecular chain to three-dimensional ferromagnetic electrodes is described by a tight-binding model for both parallel and antiparallel spin configurations. The decrease of height of transmission probability peaks and thermoelectric coefficients are observed in the presence of the B ¨uttiker probes. The reduction is more intensive in the strong dephased chains.Results show that the spin magnetothermopower is bigger than the charge magnetothermopower due to the larger difference between the spin thermopowers with respect to the charge ones. In addition, we observed that the kind of carriers participating in the thermoelectric transport depends on the number of the thiophene rings.     

Nonlocal Andreev reflection with Rashba spin-orbital interaction in a triple-quantum-dot ring

We theoretically studied the nonlocal Andreev reflection with Rashba spin-orbital interaction in a triple-quantumdot(QD) ring,which is introduced as Rashba spin-orbital interaction to act locally on one component quantum dot.It is found that the electronic current and spin current are sensitive to the systematic parameters.The interdot spin-flip term does not play a leading role in causing electronic and spin currents.Otherwise the spin precessing term leads to shift of the peaks of the the spin-up and spin-down electronic currents in different directions and results in the spin current.Moreover,the spin-orbital interaction suppresses the nonlocal Andreev reflection,so we cannot obtain the pure spin current.     

Ground state of rotating ultracold quantum gases with anisotropic spin orbit coupling and concentrically coupled annular potential

Motivated by recent experimental realization of synthetic spin–orbit coupling in neutral quantum gases, we consider the quasi-two-dimensional rotating two-component Bose–Einstein condensates with anisotropic Rashba spin–orbit coupling subject to concentrically coupled annular potential. For experimentally feasible parameters, the rotating condensate exhibits a variety of rich ground state structures by varying the strengths of the spin–orbit coupling and rotational frequency.Moreover, the phase transitions between different ground state phases induced by the anisotropic spin–orbit coupling are obviously different from the isotropic one.