(1) Department of Physics, Southeast University, 210096, Nanjing, P.R. China
Abstract:
We propose an electrical scheme for the generation of a pure spin current without a charge current in a two-terminal device,
which
consists of a scattering region of a two-dimensional electron gas
(2DEG) with Rashba (R) and/or Dresselhaus (S) spin-orbit interaction (SOI)
and two normal leads. The SOI is modulated by a time-dependent gate
voltage to pump a spin current. Based on a tight-binding model and
the Keldysh Green’s function technique, we obtain the analytical
expression of the spin current. It is shown that a pure spin current
can be pumped out, and its magnitude could be modulated by
device parameters such as the oscillating frequency of the SOI, as
well as the SOI strength. Moreover, the spin polarisation direction of
the spin current could also be tuned by the strength ratio between
RSOI and DSOI. Our proposal provides not only a fully electrical means
to generate a pure spin current but also a way to control the spin
polarisation direction of the generated spin current.