Spin-dependent conductance in FM/quantum-dot/FM tunneling system

We present a theoretical study of the spin-dependent conductance spectra in a FM/semiconductor quantum-dot (QD)/FM system. Both the Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling in the QD and spin-flip scattering caused by magnetic barrier impurities are taken into account. It is found that in the single-level QD system with parallel magnetic moments in the two FM leads, due to the interference between different tunneling paths through the spin-degenerate level, a dip or a narrow resonant peak can appear in the conductance spectra, which depends on the property of the spin-flip scattering. When the magnetizations of the two FM leads are noncollinear, the resonant peak can be transformed into a dip. The Rashba SO coupling manifests itself by a Rashba phase factor, which changes the phase information of every tunneling path and can greatly modulate the conductance. When the QD has multiple levels, the Rashba interlevel spin-flip effect appears, which changes the topological property of the structure. Its interplay with the Rashba phase can directly tune the coupling strengths between dot and leads, and can result in switching from resonance into antiresonance in the conductance spectra.     

Tunneling conductance of a two-dimensional electron gas with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling

We theoretically studied the spin-dependent charge transport in a two-dimensional electron gas with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (DSOC) and metal junctions. It is shown that the DSOC energy can be directly measured from the tunneling conductance spectrum. We found that spin polarization of the conductance in the propagation direction can be obtained by injecting from the DSOC system. We also considered the effect of the interfacial scattering barrier (both spin-flip and non-spin-flip scattering) on the overall conductance and the spin polarization of the conductance. It is found that the increase of spin-flip scattering can enhance the conductance under certain conditions. Moreover, both types of scattering can increase the spin polarization below the branches crossing of the energy band.     

Control of conductance in a quasi-1D channel in the presence of spin-orbit coupling

The electron energy spectrum and conductance in a quasi-1D channel with spin-orbit coupling is calculated. The channel is divided into two parts by a potential barrier. It is shown that a change in the barrier electric potential yields additional extema of the function ?(k). This results in modification of the conductance quantization law. The quantum states and conductance are calculated for the parameters of real structures with weak both and relatively strong spin-orbit coupling.     

Fano effect in a T-shaped double quantum dot structure in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling

The influence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling on the Fano lineshape of the conductance spectrum in a T-shaped double quantum dot structure is theoretically studied. By second-quantizing the electron Hamiltonian in this structure, it is found that the Rashba interaction brings about a spin-flip interdot hopping term. With the enhancement of the Rashba interaction, this term separates the two resonant peaks in the conductance spectrum from each other. More importantly, it causes the broadening of the narrow Fano peak, and the narrowing of the broader peak. Finally, the asymmetric Fano lineshape changes into a symmetric profile in the global conductance spectrum.     

Influence of an interface double electric layer on the superconducting proximity effect in ferromagnetic metals

The electric field within the double electric layer that occurs when two conductors with different work functions come into contact induces interface spin-orbit coupling. In the case of contact of a conventional, s-wave superconductor with a ferromagnetic metal, the coupling is predicted to give rise to the appearance of triplet superconductivity on both sides of the interface. The form of the triplet component of the condensation amplitude is determined, and the ability of the triplet superconductivity to penetrate into the ferromagnet on the usual coherence length is shown.     

Tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance driven by resonant surface states: first-principles calculations on an Fe(001) surface

Fully relativistic first-principles calculations of the Fe(001) surface demonstrate that resonant surface (interface) states may produce sizable tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions with a single magnetic electrode. The effect is driven by the spin-orbit coupling. It shifts the resonant surface band via the Rashba effect when the magnetization direction changes. We find that spin-flip scattering at the interface is controlled not only by the strength of the spin-orbit coupling, but depends strongly on the intrinsic width of the resonant surface states.     

Coherent charge transport in ferromagnet/semiconductor nanowire/ferromagnet double barrier junctions with the interplay of Rashba spin-orbit coupling,induced superconducting pair potential,and external magnetic field

By solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation, the influence of the interplay of Rashba spin-orbit coupling, induced superconducting pair potential, and external magnetic field on the spin-polarized coherent charge transport in ferromagnet/semiconductor nanowire/ferromagnet double barrier junctions is investigated based on the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory. The coherence effect is characterized by the strong oscillations of the charge conductance as a function of the bias voltage or the thickness of the semiconductor nanowire, resulting from the quantum interference of incoming and outgoing quasiparticles in the nanowire. Such oscillations can be effectively modulated by varying the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, the thickness of the nanowire, or the strength of the external magnetic field. It is also shown that two different types of zero-bias conductance peaks may occur under some particular conditions, which have some different characteristics and may be due to different mechanisms.     

Upper critical field of a superconductor with arbitrary spin-orbit scattering: CeCu2Si2 and UBe13

The upper critical field is determined for an even-parity singlet pairing state in the presence of arbitrary spin-orbit scattering. Comparison with critical field experiments suggests that superconductivity in CeCu₂Si₂ is a singlet pairing state, and in UBe₁₃ is either a triplet pairing state or is a singlet state with restrictive conditions that the pair orbital be nearly isotropic and that strong spin-orbit scattering increase strongly as the field increases.     

Pairing superfluidity in spin-orbit coupled ultracold Fermi gases

We review some recent progresses on the study of ultracold Fermi gases with synthetic spin-orbit coupling.In particular,we focus on the pairing superfluidity in these systems at zero temperature.Recent studies have shown that different forms of spin-orbit coupling in various spatial dimensions can lead to a wealth of novel pairing superfluidity.A common theme of these variations is the emergence of new pairing mechanisms which are direct results of spin-orbit-coupling-modified single-particle dispersion spectra.As different configurations can give rise to single-particle dispersion spectra with drastic differences in symmetry,spin dependence and low-energy density of states,spin-orbit coupling is potentially a powerful tool of quantum control,which,when combined with other available control schemes in ultracold atomic gases,will enable us to engineer novel states of matter.     

Cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling in 2D electron quantum dots

We study effects of the oft-neglected cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (i.e., directly proportional p3) in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots. Using a semiclassical billiard model, we estimate the magnitude of the spin-orbit induced avoided crossings in a closed quantum dot in a Zeeman field. Using previous analyses based on random matrix theory, we calculate corresponding effects on the conductance through an open quantum dot. Combining our results with an experiment on an 8 microm2 quantum dot [D. M. Zumbühl, Phys. Rev. B 72, 081305 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevB.72.081305] suggests that (1) the GaAs Dresselhaus coupling constant gamma is approximately 9 eV A3, significantly less than the commonly cited value of 27.5 eV A3, and (2) the majority of the spin-flip effects can come from the cubic Dresselhaus term.     

Theory of half-metal/superconductor heterostructures

We investigate the Josephson coupling between two singlet superconductors separated by a half-metallic magnet. The mechanism behind the coupling is provided by the rotation of the quasiparticle spin in the superconductor during reflection events at the interface with the half metal. Spin rotation induces triplet correlations in the superconductor which, in the presence of surface spin-flip scattering, results in an indirect Josephson effect between the superconductors. We present a theory appropriate for studying this phenomenon and calculate physical properties for a superconductor/half-metal/superconductor heterostructure.     

Conductance oscillations of a spin-orbit stripe with polarized contacts

We investigate the linear conductance of a stripe of spin-orbit interaction in a 2D electron gas; that is, a 2D region of length l\ell along the transport direction and infinite in the transverse one in which a spin-orbit interaction of Rashba type is present. Polarization in the contacts is described by means of Zeeman fields. Our model predicts two types of conductance oscillations: Ramsauer oscillations in the minority spin transmission, when both spins can propagate, and Fano oscillations when only one spin propagates. The latter are due to the spin-orbit coupling with quasibound states of the non propagating spin. In the case of polarized contacts in antiparallel configuration Fano-like oscillations of the conductance are still made possible by the spin orbit coupling, even though no spin component is bound by the contacts. To describe these behaviors we propose a simplified model based on an ansatz wave function. In general, we find that the contribution for vanishing transverse momentum dominates and defines the conductance oscillations. Regarding the oscillations with Rashba coupling intensity, our model confirms the spin transistor behavior, but only for high degrees of polarization. Including a position dependent effective mass yields additional oscillations due to the mass jumps at the interfaces.     

Spin transport in a chain of polygonal quantum rings with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling

Using a transfer matrix method, we investigate spin transport through a chain of polygonal rings with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling(DSOC). The spin conductance is dependent on the number of sides in the polygons. When DSOC is considered in a chain which also has Rashba spin-orbit coupling(RSOC) of the same magnitude, the total conductance is the same as that for the same chain with no SOC. However, when the two types of SOC have different values, there results a unique anisotropic conductance.     

S-wave spin-triplet order in superconductors without inversion symmetry: Li2Pd3B and Li2Pt3B

We investigate the order parameter of noncentrosymmetric superconductors Li2Pd3B and Li2Pt3B via the behavior of the penetration depth lambda(T). The low-temperature penetration depth shows BCS-like behavior in Li2Pd3B, while in Li2Pt3B it follows a linear temperature dependence. We propose that broken inversion symmetry and the accompanying antisymmetric spin-orbit coupling, which admix spin-singlet and spin-triplet pairing, are responsible for this behavior. The triplet contribution is weak in Li2Pd3B, leading to a wholly open but anisotropic gap. The significantly larger spin-orbit coupling in Li2Pt3B allows the spin-triplet component to be larger in Li2Pt3B, producing line nodes in the energy gap as evidenced by the linear temperature dependence of lambda(T). The experimental data are in quantitative agreement with theory.     

Spin-flip scattering of conduction electrons by dislocations in a metal

The spin-flip scattering of conduction electrons by dislocations in metals with a strong spin-orbit coupling is considered. Calculations are performed in terms of the model spin-orbit potential describing the spin-flip scattering of conduction electrons. It is shown that deformation of the crystal lattice in a metal leads to a change in the structure factor. The core of a rectilinear edge dislocation is calculated by the molecular dynamics method. The results obtained are compared with the experimental data on conduction-electron spin resonance (CESR) in copper.     

含δ势垒的铁磁/半导体/铁磁异质结中的自旋输运和渡越时间

研究了含δ势垒的铁磁/半导体/铁磁异质结中自旋相关的透射概率和渡越时间,讨论了量子尺寸效应和Rashba自旋轨道耦合效应对隧穿特性的影响.研究结果表明：δ势垒的存在降低了自旋电子的透射概率,改变了透射概率的位相.Rashba自旋轨道耦合强度的增加加大了透射概率的振荡频率.不同自旋取向的电子隧穿异质结时,渡越时间随着半导体长度、Rashba自旋轨道耦合强度以及两铁磁电极中的磁化方向的夹角的变化而变化. 关键词： δ势垒')" href="#">δ势垒 铁磁/半导体/铁磁异质结 Rashba自旋轨道耦合效应 渡越时间     

Effect of spin-flip processes on the Pauli susceptibility

The reduction of the Pauli susceptibility due to a perturbing Hamiltonian which allows for spin-flip processes is calculated. The results are applied to the spin-orbit coupling in liquid metals, and the exchange interaction in magnetic metals at high temperatures and near the Curie point. The corrections are small.     

Theory of Raman scattering of light on spin-flip and electronic excitation in Europium chalcogenides

The inelastic scattering of light in magnetic semiconductors from the family of the Europium chalcogenides is discussed in relation with spin-orbit coupling and d-f exchange interaction. It is shown that the Raman processes connected with spin-flip and other electronic excitations can occur in the energy range of 0.1-0.5 eV. In this case and for the typical values of d-f exchange interaction and spin-orbit coupling parameter lying between 0.05 and 0.1 eV, the values of the differentional cross-sections are between 10^-9 - 10^-11 cm²sr^-1 sec. The selection rules for the polarization of the incident and scattered photons as well as the Raman tensors for the four allowed transitions are derived. The possibility of applying spin-flip Raman processes in magnetic semiconductors in the tuning of electromagnetic radiation in Raman lasers is analyzed briefly.     

Reduction of spin injection efficiency by interface defect spin scattering in ZnMnSe/AlGaAs-GaAs spin-polarized light-emitting diodes

We report the first experimental demonstration that interface microstructure limits diffusive electrical spin-injection efficiency across heteroepitaxial interfaces. An inverse correlation be-tween spin-polarized electron injection efficiency and interface defect density is demonstrated for ZnMnSe/AlGaAs-GaAs spin-polarized light-emitting diodes that exhibit quantum well spin polarizations up to 85%. A theoretical treatment shows that the suppression of spin injection due to interface defects results from the contribution of the defect potential to the spin-orbit interaction, which increases the spin-flip scattering.     

自旋轨道耦合效应及其应用研究

讨论了自旋轨道耦合效应的物理起源,介绍了两种不同性质的自旋轨道耦合效应,具体研究了磁性隧道结中自旋轨道耦合效应对电导的影响.