Using standard quantum network method, we analytically investigate the effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) and a magnetic field on the spin transport properties of a polygonal quantum ring. Using Landauer-Buttiker formula, we have found that the polarization direction and phase of transmitted electrons can be controlled by both the magnetic field and RSOC. A device to generate a spin-polarized conductance in a polygon with an arbitrary number of sides is discussed. This device would permit precise control of spin and selectively provide spin filtering for either spin up or spin down simply by interchanging the source and drain.
By modeling a Rashba nanowire contacted to leads via an inhomogeneous spin-orbit coupling profile, we investigate the equilibrium properties of the spin sector when a uniform magnetic field is applied along the nanowire axis. We find that the interplay between magnetic field and Rashba coupling generates a spin current, polarised perpendicularly to the applied field and flowing through the nanowire even at equilibrium. In the nanowire bulk such effect persists far beyond the regime where the nanowire mimics the helical states of a quantum spin Hall system, while in the leads the spin current is suppressed. Furthermore, despite the nanowire not being proximized by superconductors, at the interfaces with the leads we predict the appearance of localized spin torques and spin polarizations, orthogonal to the magnetic field and partially penetrating into the leads. This feature, due to the inhomogeneity of the Rashba coupling, suggests to use caution in interpreting spin polarization as signatures of Majorana fermions. When the magnetic field has a component also along the Rashba field, its collinearity with the spin polarization and orthogonality to the spin current are violated in the nanowire bulk too. We analyze these quantities in terms of the magnetic field and chemical potential for both long and short nanowires in experimentally realistic regimes.
We employ a path integral real time approach to compute the DC conductance and spin polarization for electrons transported across a ballistic Quantum Ring with Rashba spin-orbit interaction. We use a piecewise semiclassical approximation for the particle orbital motion and solve the spin dynamics exactly, by accounting for both Zeeman coupling and spin-orbit interaction at the same time. Within our approach, we are able to study how the interplay between Berry phase, Ahronov Casher phase, Zeeman interaction and weak localization corrections influences the quantum interference in the conductance within a wide range of externally applied fields. Our results are helpful in inerpreting recent measurements on interferometric rings.
We study theoretically the minimal conductivity of monolayer graphene in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The Rashba spin-orbit interaction causes the low-energy bands to undergo trigonal-warping deformation and for energies smaller than the Lifshitz energy, the Fermi circle breaks up into parts, forming four separate Dirac cones. We calculate the minimal conductivity for an ideal strip of length $L$ and width $W$ within the Landauer--Buttiker formalism in a continuum and in a tight binding model. We show that the minimal conductivity depends on the relative orientation of the sample and the probing electrodes due to the interference of states related to different Dirac cones. We also explore the effects of finite system size and find that the minimal conductivity can be lowered compared to that of an infinitely wide sample.
In the absence of an external field, the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in a two-dimensional electron gas in a semiconductor quantum well arises entirely from the screened electrostatic potential of ionized donors. We adjust the wave functions of a quantum well so that electrons occupying the first (lowest) subband conserve their spin projection along the growth axis (Sz), while the electrons occupying the second subband precess due to Rashba SOI. Such a specially designed quantum well may be used as a spin relaxation trigger: electrons conserve Sz when the applied voltage (or current) is lower than a certain threshold V*; higher voltage switches on the Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation.
In 1984, Bychkov and Rashba introduced a simple form of spin-orbit coupling to explain certain peculiarities in the electron spin resonance of two-dimensional semiconductors. Over the past thirty years, similar ideas have been leading to a vast number of predictions, discoveries, and innovative concepts far beyond semiconductors. The past decade has been particularly creative with the realizations of means to manipulate spin orientation by moving electrons in space, controlling electron trajectories using spin as a steering wheel, and with the discovery of new topological classes of materials. These developments reinvigorated the interest of physicists and materials scientists in the development of inversion asymmetric structures ranging from layered graphene-like materials to cold atoms. This review presents the most remarkable recent and ongoing realizations of Rashba physics in condensed matter and beyond.