Controllable Spin Polarization of Charge Current by Rashba Spin Orbital Coupling

We report a theoretic study on modulating the spin polarization of charge current in a mesoscopic four-terminal device of cross structure by using the inverse spin hall effect. The scattering region of device is a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with Rashba spin orbital interaction (RSOI), one of lead is ferromagnetic metal and other three leads are spin-degenerate normal metals. By using Landauer-Büttiker formalism, we found that when alongitudinal charge current flows through 2DEG scattering region from FM lead by external bias, the transverse current can be either a pure spin current or full-polarized charge current due to the combined effect of spin hall effect and its inverse process, and the polarization of this transverse current can be easily controlled by several device parameters such as the Fermi energy, ferromagnetic magnetization, and the RSOI constant. Our method may pave a new way to control the spin polarization of a charge current.     

转换反射中光自旋霍尔效应的自旋堆积方向

从理论上和实验上研究了转换反射中光自旋霍尔效应的自旋堆积方向的方法,建立了描述光束在空气-棱镜界面反射的自旋堆积模型,揭示了横移与光束入射偏振角的定性关系。研究发现,当入射角小于布儒斯特角时,随着入射偏振角的逐渐增大,自旋堆积的方向发生反转。而当入射角大于布儒斯特角时,自旋堆积的方向不再随入射偏振角的变化而反转。结果表明,在光束入射角为确定值且小于布儒斯特角的情况下,可以通过调控光束的入射偏振角转换自旋堆积的方向。转换自旋堆积方向的研究为有效调控光自旋霍尔效应提供了新的途径。     

磁台阶势垒结构中二维电子气的自旋极化输运

运用散射矩阵方法,研究了台阶磁势垒量子结构中二维电子气的隧穿输运性质.结果表明：在零偏压下,电子传输概率的自旋极化曲线随入射能量的增加而振荡衰减;随着磁台阶数的增加,电子传输概率的自旋极化度最大值减小,同时电子传输概率的自旋极化度振荡衰减也越来越慢;随着磁台阶的总宽度增加,电子传输概率的自旋极化曲线出现更明显的振荡,电子隧穿磁台阶势垒表现出明显的量子尺寸效应;在偏置电压的作用下,电子传输概率的自旋极化度在宽广的入射能量区出现明显的振荡增大,电子隧穿磁台阶势垒表现出更明显的自旋过滤效应. 关键词： 磁台阶势垒 自旋极化 自旋过滤     

Spin Polarization and Spin‐Flip Through Phosphorene Superlattice

The spin‐dependent transport properties, including spin polarization and spin‐flip for phosphorene superlattice in the presence of an extrinsic Rashba spin‐orbit interaction (RSOI) based on the transfer matrix method, are studied. The results show that the number of barriers in the superlattice structure plays a dominant role in output spin polarization, which can be used in designing optimized spintronic devices. In addition, by controlling on the Rashba strength, an incident spin‐up electron can be transmitted as a spin‐down electron. Also, it enables to convert the unpolarized incident electronic beam (with zero spin polarization) into an arbitrary output spin polarization, which plays a significant role in qubit circuits.     

GaMnN铁磁共振隧穿二极管自旋电流输运以及极化效应的影响

通过理论计算研究GaMnN铁磁共振隧穿二极管自旋电流输运特性.理论结果表明在电流特性曲线上出现两个明显的自旋分裂峰.该电流自旋分裂峰和相应的自旋极化随温度的升高而逐渐减小消失.当进一步考虑到GaN异质结界面极化电荷影响时,自旋向下的电流共振峰得到明显增强,同时电流的自旋极化也得到相应的提高.在一定的极化电荷条件下,可以获得较高的自旋极化电流. 关键词： GaMnN 共振隧穿 自旋电流 极化电荷     

Spin Hall Magnetoresistance and Spin Nernst Magnetothermopower in a Rashba System: Role of the Inverse Spin Galvanic Effect

In ferromagnet/normal‐metal bilayers, the sensitivity of the spin Hall magnetoresistance and the spin Nernst magnetothermopower to the boundary conditions at the interface is of central importance. In general, such boundary conditions can be substantially affected by current‐induced spin polarizations. In order to quantify the role of the latter, we consider a Rashba two‐dimensional electron gas with a ferromagnet attached to one side of the system. The geometry of such a system maximizes the effect of current‐induced spin polarization on the boundary conditions, and the spin Hall magnetoresistance is shown to acquire a non‐trivial and asymmetric dependence on the magnetization direction of the ferromagnet.     

Rashba自旋轨道耦合作用下电荷流散粒噪声与自旋极化的关系研究

根据存在自旋轨道耦合时基于散射理论的电流表达式和散粒噪声表达式,并利用自旋密度矩阵推导出沿自旋量子化坐标的自旋极化率表达式.解析计算了单通道的情况,发现自旋极化率和电荷流散粒噪声无关.由于多通道解析推导的困难,使用非平衡格林函数技巧,数值计算了包含自旋轨道耦合效应的纯净二维电子气的多通道情况.分别改变偏压、自旋轨道耦合系数、导体长度,研究了这三种不同条件下的自旋极化率与电荷流散粒噪声Fano因子的相关性.两者的相关性表明,相关性定量关系的建立可能为自旋极化的全电学检测提供新思路. 关键词： 散粒噪声 自旋极化 Rashba自旋轨道耦合 散射矩阵     

纳米管中的自旋极化

结构缺陷、掺杂等可以导致纳米管的自旋极化，而自旋极化的纳米管可以利用载流子的自旋状态作为信息载体，实现一维的自旋电子传输。具有不同自旋极化结构的纳米管，根据其电子结构、自旋极化性质和输运性质的不同，可以用于实现不同用途的自旋电子器件。很多有关自旋极化的纳米管的理论和实验工作已经展开，然而其中仍有很多物理问题有待深入研究。     

Spin transverse force on spin current in an electric field

As a relativistic quantum mechanical effect, it is shown that the electron field exerts a transverse force on an electron spin 1/2 only if the electron is moving. The spin force, analogue to the Lorentz for an electron charge in a magnetic field, is perpendicular to the electric field and the spin current whose spin polarization is projected along the electric field. This spin-dependent force can be used to understand the Zitterbewegung of the electron wave packet with spin-orbit coupling and is relevant to the generation of the charge Hall effect driven by the spin current in semiconductors.     

界面铁掺杂锯齿形石墨烯纳米带的自旋输运性能

基于密度泛函理论第一原理系统研究了界面铁掺杂锯齿(zigzag)形石墨烯纳米带的自旋输运性能, 首先考虑了宽度为4的锯齿(zigzag)形石墨烯纳米带, 构件了4个纳米器件模型, 对应于中心散射区的长度分别为N=4, 6, 8和10个石墨烯单胞的长度, 铁掺杂在中心区和电极的界面. 发现在铁磁(FM)态, 四个器件的β自旋的电流远大于α自旋的电流, 产生了自旋过滤现象; 而界面铁掺杂的反铁磁态模型, 两种电流自旋都很小, 无法产生自旋过滤现象; 进一步考虑电极的反自旋构型, 器件电流显示出明显的自旋过滤效应. 探讨了带宽分别为5和6的纳米器件的自旋输运性能, 中心散射区的长度为N=6个石墨烯单胞的长度, FM 态下器件两种自旋方向的电流值也存在较大的差异, β自旋的电流远大于α自旋电流. 这些结果表明: 界面铁掺杂能有效调控锯齿形石墨烯纳米带的自旋电子, 对于设计和发展高极化自旋过滤器件有重要意义.     

Detecting Spin Bias with Circularly Polarized Light

We theoretically study the spin transport through a two-terminal quantum dot device under the influence of a symmetric spin bias and circularly polarized light.It is found that the combination of the circularly polarized light and the applied spin bias can result in a net charge current.The resultant charge current is large enough to be measured when properly choosing the system parameters.The resultant charge current can be used to deduce the spin bias due to the fact that there exists a simple linear relation between them.When the external circuit is open,a charge bias instead of a charge current can be induced,which is also measurable by present technologies.These findings indicate a new approach to detect the spin bias by using circularly polarized light.     

单量子阱的自旋电流

利用密度矩阵的方法,由多粒子体系的薛定谔方程得到了微观体系中电子输运的概率方程，由此推出了单量子阱的自旋电流和电荷流的表达式.研究发现，在某种条件下单量子阱中只存在自旋电流；同时还给出了左右自旋电流之间的关系.结果表明:当单量子阱中的电子发生自旋共振时,自旋电流出现极大值并且随着自旋退相干时间的减小而减小. 关键词： 自旋共振 自旋电流     

Generating and reversing spin accumulation by temperature gradient in a quantum dot attached to ferromagnetic leads

We propose to generate and reverse the spin accumulation in a quantum dot (QD) by using the temperature difference between the two ferromagnetic leads connected to the dot. The electrons are driven purely by the temperature gradient in the absence of an electric bias and a magnetic field. In the Coulomb blockade regime, we find two ways to reverse the spin accumulation. One is by adjusting the QD energy level with a fixed temperature gradient, and the other is by reversing the temperature gradient direction for a fixed value of the dot level. The spin accumulation in the QD can be enhanced by the magnitudes of both the leads’ spin polarization and the asymmetry of the dot-lead coupling strengths. The present device is quite simple, and the obtained results may have practical usage in spintronics or quantum information processing.     

Spin polarization induced by an electric field in the presence of weak localization effects

We evaluate the spin polarization (Edelstein or inverse spin galvanic effect) and the spin Hall current induced by an applied electric field by including the weak localization corrections for a two-dimensional electron gas. We show that the weak localization effects yield logarithmic corrections to both the spin polarization conductivity relating the spin polarization and the electric field and to the spin Hall angle relating the spin and charge currents. The renormalization of both the spin polarization conductivity and the spin Hall angle combine to produce a zero correction to the total spin Hall conductivity as required by an exact identity. Suggestions for the experimental observation of the effect are given.     

Spin accumulation in forward-biased MnAs/GaAs Schottky diodes

We describe a new means for all-electrical generation of spin polarization in semiconductors. In contrast with spin injection of electrons by tunneling through a reverse-biased Schottky barrier, we observe accumulation at the metal-semiconductor interface of forward-biased ferromagnetic Schottky diodes, which is consistent with a theory of spin-dependent reflection off the interface. Spatiotemporal Kerr microscopy is used to image the electron spin and the resulting dynamic nuclear polarization that arises from the nonequilibrium carrier polarization.     

Spin Accumulation in a Double Quantum Dot Aharonov-Bohm Interferometer

We investigate the spin accumulation in a double quantum dot Aharonov-Bohm （AB） interferometer in which both the Rashba spin-orbit （RSO） interaction and intradot Coulomb interaction are taken into account. Due to the existence of the RSO interaction, the electron, flowing through different arms of the AB ring, will acquire a spin-dependent phase factor in the tunnel-coupling strengths. This phase factor will induce various interesting interference phenomena. It is found that the electrons of the different spin directions can accumulate in the two dots by properly adjusting the bias and the intradot level with a fixed RSO interaction strength. Moreover, both the magnitude and direction of the spin accumulation in each dot can be conveniently controlled and tuned by the gate voltage acting on the dot or the bias on the lead.     

Pure spin-current diode based on interacting quantum dot tunneling junction

A magnetic field-controlled spin-current diode is theoretically proposed, which consists of a junction with an interacting quantum dot sandwiched between a pair of nonmagnetic electrodes. By applying a spin bias V_S across the junction, a pure spin current can be obtained in a certain gate voltage regime,regardless of whether the Coulomb repulsion energy exists. More interestingly, if we applied an external magnetic field on the quantum dot, we observed a clear asymmetry in the spectrum of spin current I_S as a function of spin bias, while the charge current always decays to zero in the Coulomb blockade regime. Such asymmetry in the current profile suggests a spin diode-like behavior with respect to the spin bias, while the net charge through the device is almost zero. Different from the traditional charge current diode, this design can change the polarity direction and rectifying ability by adjusting the external magnetic field, which is very convenient. This device scheme can be compatible with current technologies and has potential applications in spintronics or quantum processing.     

Spin polarized tunneling at finite bias

A mesoscopic spin valve is used to determine the dynamic spin polarization of electrons tunneling out of and into ferromagnetic (FM) transition metals at finite voltages. The dynamic polarization of electrons tunneling out of the FM slowly decreases with increasing bias but drops faster and even inverts with voltage when electrons tunnel into it. A free-electron model shows that in the former case electrons originate near the Fermi level of the FM with large polarization whereas in the latter, electrons tunnel into hot electron states for which the polarization is significantly reduced. The change in sign is ascribed to the matching of the electron wave function inside and outside the tunnel barrier.     

一维铁磁/有机共轭聚合物的自旋极化研究

针对最近关于自旋注入有机体的实验研究，理论上计算了有机分子与磁性原子接触时的自旋极化现象.通过调节磁性原子的自旋劈裂强度，发现有机分子链内的自旋极化弱于金属链，但强于半导体链.同时还研究了有机分子链内自旋极化随电子-声子耦合强度的变化关系以及界面耦合的自旋相关效应. 关键词： 界面耦合 自旋极化 自旋劈裂     

Spin Thermoelectric Effects in a Three-Terminal Double-Dot Interferometer

We theoretically investigate the thermoelectric properties of a three-terminal double-dot interferometer with Rashba spin-orbit interaction. It is found that with some temperature distributions a thermal spin current can even be produced without the help of magnetic flux and by tuning the spin interference effect in the system, a pure spin or fully spin-polarized current can be driven by temperature differences. For the cases that two of the terminals are held at the same temperature, the charge (spin) thermopower and the charge (spin) figure of merit are defined and calculated in the linear response regime. With some choices of the system parameters the calculated spin and charge thermopowers are of the same order of magnitude and the charge figure of merit can exceed 1.