Quantum states and linear response in dc and electromagnetic fields for the charge current and spin polarization of electrons at the Bi/Si interface with the giant spin-orbit coupling

An expansion of the nearly free-electron model constructed by Frantzeskakis, Pons, and Grioni [1] describing quantum states at the Bi/Si(111) interface with the giant spin-orbit coupling is developed and applied for the band structure and spin polarization calculation, as well as for the linear response analysis of the charge current and induced spin caused by a dc field and by electromagnetic radiation. It is found that the large spin-orbit coupling in this system may allow resolving the spin-dependent properties even at room temperature and at a realistic collision rate. The geometry of the atomic lattice combined with spin-orbit coupling leads to an anisotropic response for both the current and spin components related to the orientation of the external field. The in-plane dc electric field produces only the in-plane components of spin in the sample, while both the in-plane and out-of-plane spin components can be excited by normally propagating electromagnetic wave with different polarizations.     

Anisotropic property in interacting quantum wires embedded in (110) plane

We investigate the theoretically combined effect of spin-orbit interactions and Coulomb interaction on the ground state and transport property of a quantum wire oriented along different crystallographic directions in the (110) plane. We find that the electron’s ground state exhibits phase transition among spin density wave, charge density wave, singlet superconductivity and metamagnetism, which can be controlled by changing the crystallographic orientation, the strengths of the spin-orbit interactions and the Coulomb interaction. The ac conductance exhibits a significant anisotropic behavior and a out-of-plane spin polarization which can be tuned by an in-plane electric field.     

Influence of in-plane magnetic field on spin polarization in the presence of the oft-neglected k-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling

The influence of in-plane magnetic field on spin polarization in the presence of the oft-neglected k³-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling was investigated. The k³-Dresselhaus term can produce a limited spin polarization. The in-plane magnetic field plays a great role in the tunneling process. It can generate the perfect spin polarization of the electrons and the ideal transmission coefficient for spin up and down simultaneously. In energy scale, complete separation between spin up and down resonance was obtained by a relatively higher in-plane magnetic field while a comparatively lower in-plane magnetic field vanishes the spin separation. On the other hand, the spin relaxation can be suppressed by compensating the oft-neglected k³-Dresselhaus spin orbit coupling using a relatively lower in-plane magnetic field.     

Out-of-plane spin polarization from in-plane electric and magnetic fields

We show that the joint effect of spin-orbit and magnetic fields leads to a spin polarization perpendicular to the plane of a homogeneous two-dimensional electron system with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and in-plane parallel dc magnetic and electric fields, for angle-dependent impurity scattering or nonparabolic energy spectrum, while only in-plane polarization persists for simplified models. We derive Bloch equations, describing the main features of recent experiments, including the magnetic field dependence of static and dynamic responses.     

Spin-polarized transport in one-dimensional waveguide structures with spatially-periodic electronic and magnetic fields

We investigate theoretically the spin-polarized transport in one-dimensional waveguide structure with spatially-periodic electronic and magnetic fields. The interplay of the spin-orbit interaction and in-plane magnetic field significantly modifies the spin-dependent transmission and the spin polarization. The in-plane magnetic fields increase the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling effect for the electric fields along y axis and decrease this effect for reversing the electric fields, even counteract the Rashba spin-orbit coupling effect. It is very interesting to find that we may deduce the strength of the Rashba effect through this phenomenon.     

Kinetic magnetoelectric effect in laterally boundary-confined ballistic two-dimensional hole gases

A theoretical investigation is presented on the characteristics of the kinetic magnetoelectric effect in laterally boundary-confined ballistic two-dimensional hole gases.It was shown that,though the momentum-dependent effective magnetic fields felt by charge carriers due to the spin-orbit interaction are in-plane orientated in such systems,both in-plane polarized and normal polarized nonequilibrium spin polarization densities could be electrically induced by the kinetic magnetoelectric effect,and the induced nonequilibrium spin polarizations exhibit some interesting characteristics.The characteristics we found indicate that there may be some possible relation between this effect and some recent experimental findings.     

Current-induced spin polarization in a spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit coupling

The current-induced spin polarization (CISP) is investigated in a combined Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional electron gas, subjected to a homogeneous out-of-plane magnetization. It is found that, in addition to the usual collision-related in-plane parts of CISP, there are two impurity-density-free contributions, arising from intrinsic and disorder-mediated mechanisms. The intrinsic parts of spin polarization are related to the Berry curvature, analogous with the anomalous and spin Hall effects. For short-range collision, the disorder-mediated spin polarizations completely cancel the intrinsic ones and the total in-plane components of CISP equal those for systems without magnetization. However, for remote disorders, this cancellation does not occur and the total in-plane components of CISP strongly depend on the spin-orbit interaction coefficients and magnetization for both pure Rashba and combined Rashba-Dresselhaus models.     

Domain wall dynamics driven by spin transfer torque and the spin-orbit field

We have studied current-driven dynamics of domain walls when an in-plane magnetic field is present in perpendicularly magnetized nanowires using an analytical model and micromagnetic simulations. We model an experimentally studied system, ultrathin magnetic nanowires with perpendicular anisotropy, where an effective in-plane magnetic field is developed when current is passed along the nanowire due to the Rashba-like spin-orbit coupling. Using a one-dimensional model of a domain wall together with micromagnetic simulations, we show that the existence of such in-plane magnetic fields can either lower or raise the threshold current needed to cause domain wall motion. In the presence of the in-plane field, the threshold current differs for positive and negative currents for a given wall chirality, and the wall motion becomes sensitive to out-of-plane magnetic fields. We show that large non-adiabatic spin torque can counteract the effect of the in-plane field.     

Anisotropic spin relaxation in graphene

Spin relaxation in graphene is investigated in electrical graphene spin valve devices in the nonlocal geometry. Ferromagnetic electrodes with in-plane magnetizations inject spins parallel to the graphene layer. They are subject to Hanle spin precession under a magnetic field B applied perpendicular to the graphene layer. Fields above 1.5 T force the magnetization direction of the ferromagnetic contacts to align to the field, allowing injection of spins perpendicular to the graphene plane. A comparison of the spin signals at B=0 and B=2 T shows a 20% decrease in spin relaxation time for spins perpendicular to the graphene layer compared to spins parallel to the layer. We analyze the results in terms of the different strengths of the spin-orbit effective fields in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions and discuss the role of the Elliott-Yafet and Dyakonov-Perel mechanisms for spin relaxation.     

Anisotropy of spin splitting and spin relaxation in lateral quantum dots

Inelastic spin relaxation and spin splitting epsilon(s) in lateral quantum dots are studied in the regime of strong in-plane magnetic field. Because of both the g-factor energy dependence and spin-orbit coupling, epsilon(s) demonstrates a substantial nonlinear magnetic field dependence similar to that observed by Hanson et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 196802 (2003)]. It also varies with the in-plane orientation of the magnetic field due to crystalline anisotropy of the spin-orbit coupling. The spin relaxation rate is also anisotropic, the anisotropy increasing with the field. When the magnetic length is less than the "thickness" of the GaAs dot, the relaxation can be an order of magnitude faster for B ||[100] than for B || [110].     

Spin-wave modes and their intense excitation effects in Skyrmion crystals

We theoretically study spin-wave modes and their intense excitations activated by microwave magnetic fields in the Skyrmion-crystal phase of insulating magnets by numerically analyzing a two-dimensional spin model using the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation. Two peaks of spin-wave resonances with frequencies of ～1 GHz are found for in-plane ac magnetic field where distribution of the out-of-plane spin components circulates around each Skyrmion core. Directions of the circulations are opposite between these two modes, and hence the spectra exhibit a salient dependence on the circular polarization of irradiating microwave. A breathing-type mode is also found for an out-of-plane ac magnetic field. By intensively exciting these collective modes, melting of the Skyrmion crystal accompanied by a redshift of the resonant frequency is achieved within nanoseconds.     

Current-induced polarization and the spin Hall effect at room temperature

Electrically induced electron spin polarization is imaged in n-type ZnSe epilayers using Kerr rotation spectroscopy. Despite no evidence for an electrically induced internal magnetic field, current-induced in-plane spin polarization is observed with characteristic spin lifetimes that decrease with doping density. The spin Hall effect is also observed, indicated by an electrically induced out-of-plane spin polarization with opposite sign for spins accumulating on opposite edges of the sample. The spin Hall conductivity is estimated as 3+/-1.5 Omega(-1) m(-1)/|e| at 20 K, which is consistent with the extrinsic mechanism. Both the current-induced spin polarization and the spin Hall effect are observed at temperatures from 10 to 295 K.     

Interplay of Rashba- and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions in a quasi-two-dimensional electron gas of a finite thickness under in-plane magnetic field

Interplay of Rashba- and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions and in-plane magnetic field is studied in a quasi-two-dimensional electron gas with finite thickness. The transverse confinement is modeled by means of a parabolic potential. An orbital effect of the in-plane magnetic field is shown to mix a transverse quantized spin-up state with nearest-neighboring spin-down states. A controllable changes of the spin-orbital interactions, orbital- and Zeeman effects of the in-plane magnetic field yield a multivalley energy subbands, where a negative differential resistance can be observed. The out-off-plane component of the equilibrium spin current appears to be not zero in the presence of an in-plane magnetic field, provided at least two transverse-quantized levels are filled. In the absence of the magnetic field the obtained results coincide with the well-known results, yielding cubic dependence of the equilibrium spin current on the spin-orbit coupling constants. The persistent spin-current vanishes in the absence of the magnetic field if Rashba- and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coefficients, α and β, are equal each other. In-plane magnetic field destroys this symmetry, and yields a finite spin-current as α → β. Magnetic field is shown to change strongly the equilibrium current of the in-plane spin components, and gives new contributions to the cubic-dependent on spin-orbit constants terms. These new terms depend linearly on the spin-orbit constants.     

自旋光电流与电流诱导的电子自旋极化——半导体自旋电子学的新进展

文章通过自旋光电流与Kerr效应的实验，介绍在自旋一轨道耦合的体系中，如何通过自旋注入来驱动电子的运动产生电流，又如何反过来通过电子的运动或电流在系统中产生自旋激化．实验结果表明，自旋轨道耦合不但给我们提供了对自旋的操控手段，而且还给我们提供了用非磁性材料且无外加磁场条件下作为自旋源的新途径．     

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.     

Magnetoresistance due to edge spin accumulation

Because of spin-orbit interaction, an electrical current is accompanied by a spin current resulting in spin accumulation near the sample edges. Due again to spin-orbit interaction this causes a small decrease of the sample resistance. An applied magnetic field will destroy the edge spin polarization leading to a positive magnetoresistance. This effect provides means to study spin accumulation by electrical measurements. The origin and the general properties of the phenomenological equations describing coupling between charge and spin currents are also discussed.     

Spin polarization in parallel double dots with spin-orbit interaction

Spin polarization in parallel double quantum dots embedded in arms of Aharonov-Bohm interferometer is investigated. The spin-orbit interaction exists in quantum dots. We find that the spin polarization is quite large even with a weak spin-orbit interaction. The direction and the strength of the spin polarization are well controllable and manipulatable by simply varying the strength of spin-orbit interaction or the energy levels in quantum dots. Moreover, electron-electron interaction strengthens the spin accumulation when the energy levels of the two quantum dots are identical. As the energy levels are unequal, electron-electron interaction cannot increase the spin accumulation. It is worth mentioning that the device is free of a magnetic field or a ferromagnetic material and it can be easily realized with present technology.     

Effect of in-plane magnetic field on spin polarization in the presence of the Dresselhaus spin–orbit effect

In this paper, we theoretically study the effect of the in-plane magnetic field on spin polarization in the presence of the Dresselhaus spin–orbit effect. It is shown that the large spin polarization can be achieved in such a nanostructure due to the effects of both the Dresselhaus spin–orbit term and the in-plane magnetic field, but the latter plays a main role in the tunneling process. It is also shown that with the increase of in-plane magnetic field, the degree of spin splitting obviously becomes larger.     

Electrically controllable spin transport in bilayer graphene with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study the spin transport in bilayer graphene nanoribbons (BGNs) in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) and external gate voltages. It is found that the spin polarization can be significantly enhanced by the interlayer asymmetry or longitudinal mirror asymmetry produced by external gate voltages. Rashba SOI alone in BGNs can only generate current with spin polarization along the in-plane y direction, but the polarization components can be found along the x, y and z directions when a gate voltage is applied. High spin polarization with flexible orientation is obtained in the proposed device. Our findings shed new light on the generation of highly spin-polarized current in BGNs without external magnetic fields, which could have useful applications in spintronics device design.     

Spin-orbit coupling and anisotropy of spin splitting in quantum dots

In lateral quantum dots, the combined effect of both Dresselhaus and Bychkov-Rashba spin-orbit coupling is equivalent to an effective magnetic field +/- B(SO) which has the opposite sign for s(z)= +/- 1/2 spin electrons. When the external magnetic field is perpendicular to the planar structure, the field B(SO) generates an additional splitting for electron states as compared to the spin splitting in the in-plane field orientation. The anisotropy of spin splitting has been measured and then analyzed in terms of spin-orbit coupling in several AlGaAs/GaAs quantum dots by means of resonant tunneling spectroscopy. From the measured values and sign of the anisotropy we are able to determine the dominating spin-orbit coupling mechanism.