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...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 js,xy, the amplitude increases with the decrease of the quantum channel; while the amplitude of the spin current js,yx remains the same. Therefore we conclude that the effect of the quantum-channel number on the spin current js,xy is greater than that on the spin current js,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.展开更多
We study the theoretical effect of k-cubic (i.e, cubic-in-momentum) Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on the decay time of persistent spin helix states in semiconductor two-dimensional electron gases. We show that the...We study the theoretical effect of k-cubic (i.e, cubic-in-momentum) Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on the decay time of persistent spin helix states in semiconductor two-dimensional electron gases. We show that the decay time of persistent spin helix states may be suppressed substantially by k-cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling, and after taking the effect of k-cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction into account, the theoretical results obtained accord both qualitatively and quantitatively with other recent experimental results.展开更多
We study theoretically the influence of spin-orbit coupling induced by in-plane external electric field on the intrinsic spin-Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that...We study theoretically the influence of spin-orbit coupling induced by in-plane external electric field on the intrinsic spin-Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that, after such an influence is taken into account, the static intrinsic spin-Hall effect can be stabilized in a disordered Rashba twodimensional electron gas, and the static intrinsic spin-Hall conductivity shall exhibit some interesting characteristics as conceived in some original theoretical proposals.展开更多
We theoretically predict the appearance of a persistent charge current in a Rashba ring with a normal and a ferromagnetic lead under no external bias. This charge current is the result of the breaking of the time inve...We theoretically predict the appearance of a persistent charge current in a Rashba ring with a normal and a ferromagnetic lead under no external bias. This charge current is the result of the breaking of the time inversion symmetry in the original persistent pure spin current induced by the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) in the ring due to the existence of the ferromagnetic lead. With the Keldysh Green's function technique, we find that not only the magnitude and sign but also the spin polarization of'the generated charge current is determined by the system parameters such as the magnetization direction of the ferromagnetic lead, the tunneling coefficient, the strength of the RSOC and the exchange energy of the ferromagnetic lead, which are all tunable in experiments, that is, a controllable persistent spin-polarized charge current can be obtained in such a device.展开更多
We propose a four-terminal device consisting of two parallel quantum dots with Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI), coupled to two side superconductor leads and two common ferromagnetic leads, respectively. The two...We propose a four-terminal device consisting of two parallel quantum dots with Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI), coupled to two side superconductor leads and two common ferromagnetic leads, respectively. The two ferromagnetic leads and two quantum dots form a ring threaded by Aharonov-Bohm (AB) flux. This device possesses normal quasiparticle transmission between the two ferromagnetic leads, and normal and crossed Andreev reflections providing conductive holes. For the appropriate spin polarization of the ferromagnetic leads, RSOI and AB flux, the pure spin-up (or spin-down) current without net charge current in the right lead, which is due to the equal numbers of electrons and holes with the same spin-polarization moving along the same direction, can be obtained by adjusting the gate voltage, which may be used in practice as a pure spin-current injector.展开更多
Motivated by the recent discovery of a strongly spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional (2D) electron gas near the surface of Rashba semiconductors BiTeX (X = Cl, Br, I), we calculate the thermoelectric responses of sp...Motivated by the recent discovery of a strongly spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional (2D) electron gas near the surface of Rashba semiconductors BiTeX (X = Cl, Br, I), we calculate the thermoelectric responses of spin polarization in a 2D Rashba model. By self-consistently determining the energy- and band-dependent transport time, we present tion for elastic scattering. Using this solution, an exact solution of the linearized Boltzmann equa- we find a non-Edelstein electric-field-induced spin polarization that is linear in the Fermi energy EF when EF lies below the band crossing point. The spin polarization efficiency, which is the electric-field-induced spin polarization divided by the driven electric current, increases for smaller EF. We show that, as a function of EF, the temperature- gradient-induced spin polarization increases continuously to a saturation value when EF decreases below the band crossing point. As the temperature tends to zero, the temperature-gradient-induced spin polarization vanishes.展开更多
Transport properties in a multi-terminal regular polygonal quantum ring with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) are investigated analytically using quantum networks and the transport matrix metLod. The results show th...Transport properties in a multi-terminal regular polygonal quantum ring with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) are investigated analytically using quantum networks and the transport matrix metLod. The results show that conduc- tances remain at exactly the same values when the output leads are located at axisymmetric positions. However, for the nonaxisymmetrical case, there is a phase difference between the upper and lower arm, which leads to zero conductances appearing periodically. An isotropy of the conductance is destroyed by the Rashba SOC effect in the axisymmetric case. In addition, the position of zero conductance is regulated with the strength of the Rashba SOC.展开更多
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 ...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 positionsl 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.展开更多
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 an...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.展开更多
The magnetisation of heavy holes in III-V semiconductor quantum wells with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in an external perpendicular magnetic field is studied theoretically. We concentrate on the effects on the ...The magnetisation of heavy holes in III-V semiconductor quantum wells with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in an external perpendicular magnetic field is studied theoretically. We concentrate on the effects on the magnetisation induced by the system boundary, the l^ashba SOC and the temperature. It is found that the sawtooth-like de Haas- van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations of the magnetisation will change dramatically in the presence of such three factors. Especially, the effects of the edge states and Rashba SOC on the magnetisation are more evident when the magnetic field is smaller. The oscillation center will shift when the boundary effect is considered and the Rashba SOC will bring beating patterns to the dHvA oscillations. These effects on the dHvA oscillations are preferably observed at low temperatures. With increasing temperature, the dHvA oscillations turn to be blurred and eventually disappear.展开更多
文摘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 js,xy, the amplitude increases with the decrease of the quantum channel; while the amplitude of the spin current js,yx remains the same. Therefore we conclude that the effect of the quantum-channel number on the spin current js,xy is greater than that on the spin current js,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.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.10874049)
文摘We study the theoretical effect of k-cubic (i.e, cubic-in-momentum) Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on the decay time of persistent spin helix states in semiconductor two-dimensional electron gases. We show that the decay time of persistent spin helix states may be suppressed substantially by k-cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling, and after taking the effect of k-cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction into account, the theoretical results obtained accord both qualitatively and quantitatively with other recent experimental results.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10874049)the State Key Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2007CB925204)the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (GrantNo. 07005834)
文摘We study theoretically the influence of spin-orbit coupling induced by in-plane external electric field on the intrinsic spin-Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that, after such an influence is taken into account, the static intrinsic spin-Hall effect can be stabilized in a disordered Rashba twodimensional electron gas, and the static intrinsic spin-Hall conductivity shall exhibit some interesting characteristics as conceived in some original theoretical proposals.
文摘We theoretically predict the appearance of a persistent charge current in a Rashba ring with a normal and a ferromagnetic lead under no external bias. This charge current is the result of the breaking of the time inversion symmetry in the original persistent pure spin current induced by the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) in the ring due to the existence of the ferromagnetic lead. With the Keldysh Green's function technique, we find that not only the magnitude and sign but also the spin polarization of'the generated charge current is determined by the system parameters such as the magnetization direction of the ferromagnetic lead, the tunneling coefficient, the strength of the RSOC and the exchange energy of the ferromagnetic lead, which are all tunable in experiments, that is, a controllable persistent spin-polarized charge current can be obtained in such a device.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10775091,10774094,10974124,and 11047172)the Excellent Youth and Midlife Scientist Scientific Research Encouragement Foundation of Shandong Province,China(Grant No. BS2010DS006)the Doctor Research Startup Foundation of Linyi University,China (Grant No. BS201023)
文摘We propose a four-terminal device consisting of two parallel quantum dots with Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI), coupled to two side superconductor leads and two common ferromagnetic leads, respectively. The two ferromagnetic leads and two quantum dots form a ring threaded by Aharonov-Bohm (AB) flux. This device possesses normal quasiparticle transmission between the two ferromagnetic leads, and normal and crossed Andreev reflections providing conductive holes. For the appropriate spin polarization of the ferromagnetic leads, RSOI and AB flux, the pure spin-up (or spin-down) current without net charge current in the right lead, which is due to the equal numbers of electrons and holes with the same spin-polarization moving along the same direction, can be obtained by adjusting the gate voltage, which may be used in practice as a pure spin-current injector.
文摘Motivated by the recent discovery of a strongly spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional (2D) electron gas near the surface of Rashba semiconductors BiTeX (X = Cl, Br, I), we calculate the thermoelectric responses of spin polarization in a 2D Rashba model. By self-consistently determining the energy- and band-dependent transport time, we present tion for elastic scattering. Using this solution, an exact solution of the linearized Boltzmann equa- we find a non-Edelstein electric-field-induced spin polarization that is linear in the Fermi energy EF when EF lies below the band crossing point. The spin polarization efficiency, which is the electric-field-induced spin polarization divided by the driven electric current, increases for smaller EF. We show that, as a function of EF, the temperature- gradient-induced spin polarization increases continuously to a saturation value when EF decreases below the band crossing point. As the temperature tends to zero, the temperature-gradient-induced spin polarization vanishes.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.61176089)Hebei Provincial Natural Science Foundation,China(Grant No.A2011205092)
文摘Transport properties in a multi-terminal regular polygonal quantum ring with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) are investigated analytically using quantum networks and the transport matrix metLod. The results show that conduc- tances remain at exactly the same values when the output leads are located at axisymmetric positions. However, for the nonaxisymmetrical case, there is a phase difference between the upper and lower arm, which leads to zero conductances appearing periodically. An isotropy of the conductance is destroyed by the Rashba SOC effect in the axisymmetric case. In addition, the position of zero conductance is regulated with the strength of the Rashba SOC.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 10474033 and 60676056)the State Key Projects of Basic Research of China (Grant Nos 2006CB0L1000 and 2005CB623605)
文摘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 positionsl 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.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 110704032 and 110704033)the Natural Science Foundation of JiangSu Province,China (Grant No. BK2010416)the National Basic Research Program of China(Grant No. 2009CB945504)
文摘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.
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 60821061, 60776061, 10604010 and 60776063)
文摘The magnetisation of heavy holes in III-V semiconductor quantum wells with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in an external perpendicular magnetic field is studied theoretically. We concentrate on the effects on the magnetisation induced by the system boundary, the l^ashba SOC and the temperature. It is found that the sawtooth-like de Haas- van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations of the magnetisation will change dramatically in the presence of such three factors. Especially, the effects of the edge states and Rashba SOC on the magnetisation are more evident when the magnetic field is smaller. The oscillation center will shift when the boundary effect is considered and the Rashba SOC will bring beating patterns to the dHvA oscillations. These effects on the dHvA oscillations are preferably observed at low temperatures. With increasing temperature, the dHvA oscillations turn to be blurred and eventually disappear.