Spin texturing in a parabolically confined quantum wire with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions

In this study, we investigate theoretically the effect of spin–orbit coupling on the energy level spectrum and spin texturing of a quantum wire with a parabolic confining potential subjected to the perpendicular magnetic field. Highly accurate numerical calculations have been carried out using a finite element method. Our results reveal that the interplay between the spin–orbit interaction and the effective magnetic field significantly modifies the band structure, producing additional subband extrema and energy gaps. Competing effects between external field and spin–orbit interactions introduce complex features in spin texturing owing to the couplings in energy subbands. We obtain that spatial modulation of the spin density along the wire width can be considerably modified by the spin–orbit coupling strength, magnetic field and charge carrier concentration.     

Giant Persistent Current in a Mesoscopic Ring with Parallel-Coupled Double Quantum Dots

We theoretically study the properties of the ground state of the parallel-coupled double quantum dots embedded in a mesoscopic ring in the Kondo regime by means of the two-impurity Anderson Hamiltonian. The Hamiltonian is solved by means of the slave-boson mean-field theory. Our results show that in this system, the persistent current depends sensitively on both the parity of this system and the size of the ring. Two dots can be coupled coherently, which is reflected in the giant current peak in the strong coupling regime. This system might be a candidate for future device applications.     

Spin Polarization and Andreev Conductance through a Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor Quantum Wire with Spin--Orbit Interaction

Spin-dependent Andreev reflection and spin polarization through a diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum wire coupled to normal metallic and superconductor electrodes are investigated using scattering theory. When the spin-orbit coupling is considered, more Andreev conductance steps appear at the same Fermi energy. Magnetic semiconductor quantum wire separates the spin-up and spin-down electrons. The Fermi energy, at which different- spin-state electrons begin to separate, becomes lower due to the effect of the spin-orbit interaction. The spin filter effect can be measured more easily by investigating the Andreev conductance than by investigating the normal conductance.     

Polarized spin transport in mesoscopic quantum rings with electron--phonon and Rashba spin--orbit coupling

The influence of electron--phonon (EP) scattering on spin polarization of current output from a mesoscopic ring with Rashba spin--orbit (SO) interaction is numerically investigated. There are three leads connecting to the ring at different positions; unpolarized current is injected to one of them, and the other two are output channels with different bias voltages. The spin polarization of current in the outgoing leads shows oscillations as a function of EP coupling strength owing to the quantum interference of EP states in the ring region. As temperature increases, the oscillations are evidently suppressed, implying decoherence of the EP states. The simulation shows that the magnitude of polarized current is sensitive to the location of the lead. The polarized current depends on the connecting position of the lead in a complicated way due to the spin-sensitive quantum interference effects caused by different phases accumulated by transmitting electrons with opposite spin states along different paths.     

Spin current and its heat effect in a multichannel quantum wire with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Using the perturbation method,we theoretically study the spin current and its heat effect in a multichannel quantum wire with Rashba spin-orbit coupling.The heat generated by the spin current is calculated.With the increase of the width of the quantum wire,the spin current and the heat generated both exhibit period oscillations with equal amplitudes.When the quantum-channel number is doubled,the oscillation periods of the spin current and of the heat generated both decrease by a factor of 2.For the spin current j s,xy,the amplitude increases with the decrease of the quantum channel;while the amplitude of the spin current j s,yx remains the same.Therefore we conclude that the effect of the quantum-channel number on the spin current j s,xy is greater than that on the spin current j s,yx.The strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling is tunable by the gate voltage,and the gate voltage can be varied experimentally,which implies a new method of detecting the spin current.In addition,we can control the amplitude and the oscillation period of the spin current by controlling the number of the quantum channels.All these characteristics of the spin current will be very important for detecting and controlling the spin current,and especially for designing new spintronic devices in the future.     

Spin current and its heat effect in a multichannel quantum wire with Rashba spinben orbit coupling

Using the perturbation method, we theoretically study the spin current and its heat effect in a multichannel quantum wire with Rashba spin—orbit coupling. The heat generated by the spin current is calculated. With the increase of the width of the quantum wire, the spin current and the heat generated both exhibit period oscillations with equal amplitudes. When the quantum-channel number is doubled, the oscillation periods of the spin current and of the heat generated both decrease by a factor of 2. For the spin current j_s,xy, the amplitude increases with the decrease of the quantum channel; while the amplitude of the spin current j_s,yx remains the same. Therefore we conclude that the effect of the quantum-channel number on the spin current j_s,xy is greater than that on the spin current j_s,yx. The strength of the Rashba spin—orbit coupling is tunable by the gate voltage, and the gate voltage can be varied experimentally, which implies a new method of detecting the spin current. In addition, we can control the amplitude and the oscillation period of the spin current by controlling the number of the quantum channels. All these characteristics of the spin current will be very important for detecting and controlling the spin current, and especially for designing new spintronic devices in the future.     

Persistent Spin Current in a Hard-Wall Confining Quantum Wire with Weak Dresselhaus Spin-Orbit Coupling

We investigate theoretically the spin current in a quantum wire with weak Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling connected to two normal conductors. Both the quantum wire and conductors are described by a hard-wall confining potential. Using the electron wave-functions in the quantum wire and a new definition of spin current, we have calculated the elements of linear spin current density j^Ts,xi and j^Ts,yi（i=x, y, z）. We find that the elements j^Ts,xx and j^Ts,yy have a antisymmetrical relation and the element j^Ts,yz has the same amount levelas j^Ts,xx and j^Ts,yy. We also find a net linear spin current density, which has peaks at the center of quantum wire. The net linear spin current can induce a linear electric field, which may imply a way of spin current detection.     

Electron resonance-transmission through a driven quantum well with spin--orbit coupling

We have studied the spin-dependent electron transmission through a quantum well driven by both dipole-type and homogeneous oscillating fields. The numerical evaluations show that Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling induces the splitting of asymmetric Fano-type resonance peaks in the conductivity, in which the dipole modulation and the homogeneous modulation are equivalent. Therefore, we predict that the dipole-type oscillation, which is more practical in the experimental setup, can be used to realize the tunable spin filters by adjusting the field oscillation-frequency and the amplitude as well.     

Interfacial spin Hall current in a Josephson junction with Rashba spin—orbit coupling

We theoretically investigate the spin transport properties of the Cooper pairs in a conventional Josephson junction with Rashba spin-orbit coupling considered in one of the superconducting leads.It is found that an angle-resolved spin supercurrent flows through the junction and a nonzero interfacial spin Hall current driven by the superconducting phase difference also appears at the interface.The physical origin of this is that the Rashba spin-orbit coupling can induce a triplet order parameter in the s-wave superconductor.The interfacial spin Hall current dependences on the system parameters are also discussed.     

Spin-dependent electron transport of a waveguide with Rashba spin--orbit coupling in an electromagnetic field

We investigate theoretically the spin-dependent electron transport in a straight waveguide with Rashba spin--orbit coupling (SOC) under the irradiation of a transversely polarized electromagnetic (EM) field. Spin-dependent electron conductance and spin polarization are calculated as functions of the emitting energy of electrons or the strength of the EM field by adopting the mode matching approach. It is shown that the spin polarization can be manipulated by external parameters when the strength of Rashba SOC is strong. Furthermore, a sharp step structure is found to exist in the total electron conductance. These results can be understood by the nontrivial Rashba subbands intermixing and the electron intersubband transition when a finite-range transversely polarized EM field irradiates a straight waveguide.     

Intrinsic Hall effect and separation of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin splittings in semiconductor quantum wells

We have proposed a method to separate Rashba and Dresselhaus spin splittings in semiconductor quantum wells by using the intrinsic Hall effect. It is shown that the interference between Rashba and Dresselhaus terms can deflect the electrons in opposite transverse directions with a change of sign in the macroscopic Hall current, thus providing an alternative way to determine the different contributions to the spin--orbit coupling.     

Field-assisted electron transport through a symmetric double-well structure with spin--orbit coupling and the Fano-resonance induced spin filtering

We have investigated theoretically the field-driven electron-transport through a double-quantum-well semiconductor-heterostructure with spin-orbit coupling. The numerical results demonstrate that the transmission spectra are divided into two sets due to the bound-state level-splitting and each set contains two asymmetric resonance peaks which may be selectively suppressed by changing the difference in phase between two driving fields. When the phase difference changes from 0 to π, the dip of asymmetric resonance shifts from one side of resonance peak to the other side and the asymmetric Fano resonance degenerates into the symmetric Breit-Wigner resonance at a critical value of phase difference. Within a given range of incident electron energy, the spin polarization of transmission current is completely governed by the phase difference which may be used to realize the tunable spin filtering.