Thermoelectric transport and spin density of graphene nanoribbons with Rashba spin–orbit interaction

In the present paper, we have theoretically investigated thermoelectric transport properties of armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons with Rashba spin–orbit interaction, as well as dephasing scattering processes by applying the nonequilibrium Green function method. Behaviors of electronic and thermal currents, as well as thermoelectric coefficients are studied. It is found that both electronic and thermal currents decrease, and thermoelectric properties been suppressed, with increasing strength of Rashba spin–orbit interaction. We have also studied spin split and spin density induced by Rashba spin–orbit interaction in the graphene nanoribbons.     

Spin inverter and polarizer curved nanowire driven by Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions

We propose in theory a curved nanowire structure that can both serve as a spin inverter and a spin polarizer driven by a periodic Rashba spin–orbit coupling (SOC) and a uniform Dresselhaus SOC. The curved section of the U-shaped quasi-one dimensional nanowire with an arc of radius R and circumferential length $\pi R$ is divided into segments of equal length initially having only its inherent homogeneous Dresselhaus SOC. Then a Rashba-type SOC is applied at every alternating segment. By tuning the Rashba SOC strength and the incident electron energy, this device can flip the spin at the output of an incoming spin-polarized electron. On the other hand, this same device acts as a spin filter for an unpolarized input for which an outgoing electron with a non-zero polarization can be achieved without the application of an external magnetic field. Moreover, the potential modulation caused by the periodic Rashba SOC enables this device to function as an attenuator for a certain range of incident electron energies that can make the probability current density drop to 10⁻⁴ of its otherwise magnitude in other regimes.     

Fast electron beam–plasma interaction in single-walled carbon nanotubes

A theoretical study on the plasmon-polariton modes coupled with a fast electron beam inside a metallic single-walled carbon nanotube is presented. The Maxwell’s equations coupled with a linearized hydrodynamic model for the nanotube’s charge oscillations are used. By considering the electron beam effects, general expression of dispersion relation of electromagnetic modes on nanotube’s surface is obtained. It is shown numerically that by considering the electron beam effects, the polariton frequency shifts to lower values.     

Zeeman coupling in low-carrier antiferromagnetic conductors with strong spin–orbit interaction

I show that, in commensurate Néel antiferromagnetic conductors with inversion symmetry, the substantial momentum dependence of the Zeeman term survives strong spin–orbit coupling and substantial magnetic anisotropy. I illustrate this by a simple example.     

Spin-polarized currents in a two-terminal quantum ring with spin–orbit interaction

Photoinduced spin current is calculated in a system consisting of a 1D quantum ring with conductors connected to it. It is shown that in the presence of Rashba’s spin–orbit interaction, a current is induced in the ring by circularly polarized radiation. Expressions are derived for the current and electron transmission coefficients taking into account the inelastic interaction with the radiation. It is shown that the spin current is a complex function of the magnetic flux through the ring, radiation frequency, and the spin–orbit coupling constant. In the presence of a potential difference, the interaction with radiation may considerably increase the efficiency of the quantum-ring-based spin filter.     

Thermoelectric properties of magnetic configurations of graphene-like nanoribbons in the presence of Rashba and spin–orbit interactions

In this paper we investigate the influence of spin–orbit interaction and two types of Rashba interaction (intrinsic and extrinsic) on magnetic and thermoelectric properties of graphene-like zigzag nanoribbons based on the honeycomb lattice. We utilize the Kane-Mele model with additional Rashba interaction terms. Magnetic structure is described by the electron-electron Coulomb repulsion reduced to the on-site interaction (Hubbard term) in the mean field approximation. We consider four types of magnetic configurations: ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic with in-plane and out-of plane direction of magnetization. Firstly, we analyze the influence of extrinsic Rashba coupling on systems with negligible spin–orbit interaction, e.g. graphene of an appropriate substrate. Secondly, we discuss the interplay between spin–orbit and intrinsic Rashba interactions. This part is relevant to materials with significant spin–orbit coupling such as silicene and stanene.     

Reprint of : Kondo effect in a carbon nanotube with spin–orbit interaction and valley mixing: A DM-NRG study

We investigate the effects of spin–orbit interaction (SOI) and valley mixing on the transport and dynamical properties of a carbon nanotube (CNT) quantum dot in the Kondo regime. As these perturbations break the pseudo-spin symmetry in the CNT spectrum but preserve time-reversal symmetry, they induce a finite splitting $\Delta$ between formerly degenerate Kramers pairs. Correspondingly, a crossover from the SU(4) to the SU(2)-Kondo effect occurs as the strength of these symmetry breaking parameters is varied. Clear signatures of the crossover are discussed both at the level of the spectral function as well as of the conductance. In particular, we demonstrate numerically and support with scaling arguments that the Kondo temperature scales inversely with the splitting $\Delta$ in the crossover regime. In presence of a finite magnetic field, time reversal symmetry is also broken. We investigate the effects of both parallel and perpendicular fields (with respect to the tube's axis) and discuss the conditions under which Kondo revivals may be achieved.     

Influences of spin–orbit interaction on quantum speed limit and entanglement of spin qubits in coupled quantum dots

Quantum speed limit and entanglement of a two-spin Heisenberg XYZ system in an inhomogeneous external magnetic field are investigated. The physical system studied is the excess electron spin in two adjacent quantum dots. The influences of magnetic field inhomogeneity as well as spin–orbit coupling are studied. Moreover, the spin interaction with surrounding magnetic environment is investigated as a non-Markovian process. The spin–orbit interaction provides two important features: the formation of entanglement when two qubits are initially in a separated state and the degradation and rebirth of the entanglement.     

Angular dependent study on spin transport in magnetic semiconductor heterostructures with Dresselhaus spin–orbit interaction

We investigate theoretically the effects of Dresselhaus spin–orbit coupling (DSOC) on the spin-dependent current and shot noise through II–VI diluted magnetic semiconductor/nonmagnetic semiconductor (DMS/NMS) barrier structures. The calculation of transmission probability is based on an effective mass quantum-mechanical approach in the presence of an external magnetic field applied along the growth direction of the junction and also applied voltage. We also study the dependence of spin-dependent properties on external magnetic field and relative angle between the magnetizations of two DMS layers in CdTe/CdMnTe heterostructures by including the DSOC effect. The results show that the DSOC has great different influence on transport properties of electrons with spin up and spin down in the considered system and this aspect may be utilized in designing new spintronics devices.     

Conductance dips and spin precession in a nonuniform waveguide with spin–orbit coupling

An infinite waveguide with a nonuniformity, a segment of finite length with spin–orbit coupling, is considered in the case when the Rashba and Dresselhaus parameters are identical. Analytical expressions have been derived in the single-mode approximation for the conductance of the system for an arbitrary initial spin state. Based on numerical calculations with several size quantization modes, we have detected and described the conductance dips arising when the waves are localized in the nonuniformity due to the formation of an effective potential well in it. We show that allowance for the evanescent modes under carrier spin precession in an effective magnetic field does not lead to a change in the direction of the average spin vector at the output of the system.     

Imposing changes of band and spin–orbit gaps in GaNBi

We present first-principles pseudopotential plane-wave calculations to explore the effects of alloying of non conventional III–V compound GaN with bismuth. We found a highly nonlinear reduction of the energy gap of GaN for small Bi composition. Consequently the optical band gap bowing is found extremely important and composition dependent. The stronger contribution is due principally to structural and, to less extent, to charge transfer effects. Moreover, because of strong relativistic effects caused by bismuth, we found a giant bowing for the spin–orbit splitting energy of valence band, by far the largest of any III–V ternary alloys.     

Magnetization of interacting electrons in anisotropic quantum dots with Rashba spin–orbit interaction

Magnetization of anisotropic quantum dots in the presence of the Rashba spin–orbit interaction has been studied for three and four interacting electrons in the dot for non-zero values of the applied magnetic field. We observe unique behaviors of magnetization that are direct reflections of the anisotropy and the spin–orbit interaction parameters independently or concurrently. In particular, there are saw-tooth structures in the magnetic field dependence of the magnetization, as caused by the electron–electron interaction, that are strongly modified in the presence of large anisotropy and high strength of the spin–orbit interactions. We also report the temperature dependence of magnetization that indicates the temperature beyond which these structures due to the interactions disappear. Additionally, we found the emergence of a weak sawtooth structure in magnetization for three electrons in the high anisotropy and large spin–orbit interaction limit that was explained as a result of merging of two low-energy curves when the level spacings evolve with increasing values of the anisotropy and the spin–orbit interaction strength.     

Influence of the spin–orbit interaction in the impurity-band states of n-doped semiconductors

We study numerically the effects of an extrinsic spin–orbit interaction on the model of electrons in n-doped semiconductors of Matsubara and Toyozawa (MT). We focus on the analysis of the density of states (DOS) and the inverse participation ratio (IPR) of the spin–orbit perturbed states in the MT set of energy eigenstates in order to characterize the eigenstates with respect to their extended or localized nature. The finite sizes that we are able to consider necessitate an enhancement of the spin–orbit coupling strength in order to obtain a meaningful perturbation. The IPR and DOS are then studied as a function of the enhancement parameter.     

Features of quasiparticle decay in 2D electronic systems with spin–orbit interaction

The dependence of the width of the spectral function of electrons and holes on the wavevector and excitation energy in a 2D electron system with spin-orbit interaction caused by structural inversion asymmetry is analyzed in the G ⁰ W ⁰ approximation. It is shown that an additional (relative to the generation of electron-hole pairs) channel of hole decay due to emission of a plasmon appears in the case of low electron density. Noticeable spin asymmetry of the spectral function width appears in the region of electron excitations.     

Effective period potential in a hybrid mesoscopic ring with Rashba spin–orbit interaction

We investigate theoretically the persistent charge current (PCC) and pure spin current (PSC) in a hybrid mesoscopic ring with Rashba spin–orbit interaction (RSOI). The PCC and PSC surviving in the ring would experience a periodic potential formed by the band offset of the constituent materials. Similarly, an effective tunnel barrier can be introduced by a region with different RSOI strength. This provides us a convenient way to manipulate the periodic potential by changing the RSOI strength through an electric field. With the increment of the RSOI strength, the PCC is suppressed, while the PSC presents an oscillatory pattern changing from negative to positive.     

Low-light-level spin–orbit splitting via structured light cross-Kerr interaction in coherent atomic media

We explore the spin–orbit coupling(SOC) mechanism for structured light in coherent atomic media with low-light-level cross-Kerr nonlinearity. Using the five-level M-type electromagnetic induced transparency(EIT) system as a prototype, we show that spin–orbit splitting for a weak spinor image can be generated by a weak trigger field carrying orbital angular momentum(OAM) at low-light intensity. By quantum-optical analogy, the paraxial focusing and defocusing of the two pseudo-spin states in the s...     

Lattice mismatch induced curved configurations of hybrid boron nitride–carbon nanotubes

A unique curved configuration is observed in freestanding hybrid boron nitride–carbon nanotubes (BN–CNTs) based on molecular dynamics simulations, which, in previous studies, was tacitly assumed as a straight configuration. The physical fundamentals of this phenomenon are explored by using the continuum mechanics theory, where the curved configuration of BN–CNTs is found to be induced by the bending effect due to the lattice mismatch between the C domain and the BN domain. In addition, our results show that the curvature of the curved BN–CNTs is determined by their radius and composition. The curvature of BN–CNTs decreases with growing radius of BN–CNTs and becomes ignorable when their radius is relatively large. A non-monotonic relationship is detected between the curvature and the composition of BN–CNTs. Specifically, the curvature of BN–CNTs increases with growing BN concentration when the molar fraction of BN atoms is smaller than a critical value 0.52, but decreases with growing BN concentration when the molar fraction of BN atoms is larger than this critical value.