299 research outputs found
Rashba spin-orbit interaction enhanced by graphene in-plane deformations
Graphene consists in a single-layer carbon crystal where 2 electrons
display a linear dispersion relation in the vicinity of the Fermi level,
conveniently described by a massless Dirac equation in spacetime.
Spin-orbit effects open a gap in the band structure and offer perspectives for
the manipulation of the conducting electrons spin. Ways to manipulate
spin-orbit couplings in graphene have been generally assessed by proximity
effects to metals that do not compromise the mobility of the unperturbed system
and are likely to induce strain in the graphene layer. In this work we explore
the gauge fields that result from the uniform
stretching of a graphene sheet under a perpendicular electric field.
Considering such deformations is particularly relevant due to the
counter-intuitive enhancement of the Rashba coupling between 30-50% for small
bond deformations well known from tight-binding and DFT calculations. We report
the accessible changes that can be operated in the band structure in the
vicinity of the K points as a function of the deformation strength and
direction.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Bipolar spin filter in a quantum dot molecule
We show that the tunable hybridization between two lateral quantum dots
connected to non-magnetic current leads in a `hanging-dot' configuration that
can be used to implement a bipolar spin filter. The competition between Zeeman,
exchange interaction, and interdot tunneling (molecular hybridization) yields a
singlet-triplet transition of the double dot {\it ground state} that allows
spin filtering in Coulomb blockade experiments. Its generic nature should make
it broadly useful as a robust bidirectional spin polarizer.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures (to appear in Appl. Phys. Lett.
Phase characterization of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates: a Majorana stellar representation approach
We study the variational perturbations for the mean-field solution of an
interacting spinor system with underlying rotational symmetries. An approach
based upon the Majorana stellar representation for mixed states and group
theory is introduced to this end. The method reduces significantly the unknown
degrees of freedom of the perturbation, allowing us a simplified and direct
exploration on emergent physical phenomena. We apply it to characterize the
phases of a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate and to study the behavior of these
phases with entropy. The spin-2 phase diagram was also investigated within the
Hartree-Fock approximation, where a non-linear deviation of the cyclic-nematic
phase boundary with temperature is predicted
Thermal effects on the spin domain phases of high spin-f Bose-Einstein condensates with rotational symmetries
Spinor Bose Einstein condensates (BEC) can be realized nowadays using
different atomic species of several spin values, offering unprecedented
opportunities to scrutinize the underlying physics of its spin phase domains
and of its quantum phase transitions. At sufficient low temperatures, lower
than the critical temperature, a fraction of thermally excited atoms of the
condensate can still interact with the whole system leading to spin-dependent
interactions that can modify the nature of its phase domains. In this work, we
characterize the thermal fraction of atoms of a spinorial BEC of general
spin- value, provided that its ground state lies in a given spin phase with
rotational symmetry. To that end, we use the Hartree-Fock approximation and a
method based on the Majorana stellar representation for mixed quantum states
and symmetry arguments. We consider the spin phases with usual point group
symmetries, including those with some exotic phases associated to the platonic
solids. The method leads to useful analytical expressions of the eigenspectrum
of the thermal cloud allowing us to study the admissible regions and multipolar
magnetic moments of the spin phases as a function of the temperature for
general spin values
From classical to quantum spintronics: Theory of coherent spin injection and spin valve phenomena
We present a theory of coherent quantum transport in ferromagnetic/
non-magnetic/ ferromagnetic heterojunctions. We predict quantum coherence to
give rise to a quantum spin valve effect that, unlike its familiar classical
analog, occurs even in the absence of a net spin current through the
heterostructure. Thus the relationship between spin and charge transport is
qualitatively different in the presence of quantum interference than in the
(semi)classical regime. This has important implications for the design of
quantum coherent spintronic devices and the interpretation of experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. To appear in EP
Energy spectrum and Landau levels in bilayer graphene with spin-orbit interaction
We present a theoretical study of the bandstructure and Landau levels in
bilayer graphene at low energies in the presence of a transverse magnetic field
and Rashba spin-orbit interaction in the regime of negligible trigonal
distortion. Within an effective low energy approach (L\"owdin partitioning
theory) we derive an effective Hamiltonian for bilayer graphene that
incorporates the influence of the Zeeman effect, the Rashba spin-orbit
interaction, and inclusively, the role of the intrinsic spin-orbit interaction
on the same footing. Particular attention is spent to the energy spectrum and
Landau levels. Our modeling unveil the strong influence of the Rashba coupling
in the spin-splitting of the electron and hole bands. Graphene
bilayers with weak Rashba spin-orbit interaction show a spin-splitting linear
in momentum and proportional to , but scales inversely proportional
to the interlayer hopping energy . However, at robust spin-orbit
coupling the energy spectrum shows a strong warping behavior near
the Dirac points. We find the bias-induced gap in bilayer graphene to be
decreasing with increasing Rashba coupling, a behavior resembling a topological
insulator transition. We further predict an unexpected assymetric
spin-splitting and crossings of the Landau levels due to the interplay between
the Rashba interaction and the external bias voltage. Our results are of
relevance for interpreting magnetotransport and infrared cyclotron resonance
measurements, including also situations of comparatively weak spin-orbit
coupling.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figure
Spin Precession and Oscillations in Mesoscopic Systems
We compare and contrast magneto-transport oscillations in the fully quantum
(single-electron coherent) and classical limits for a simple but illustrative
model. In particular, we study the induced magnetization and spin current in a
two-terminal double-barrier structure with an applied Zeeman field between the
barriers and spin disequilibrium in the contacts. Classically, the spin current
shows strong tunneling resonances due to spin precession in the region between
the two barriers. However, these oscillations are distinguishable from those in
the fully coherent case, for which a proper treatment of the electron phase is
required. We explain the differences in terms of the presence or absence of
coherent multiple wave reflections.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Spin rotation for ballistic electron transmission induced by spin-orbit interaction
We study spin dependent electron transmission through one- and
two-dimensional curved waveguides and quantum dots with account of spin-orbit
interaction. We prove that for a transmission through arbitrary structure there
is no spin polarization provided that electron transmits in isolated energy
subband and only two leads are attached to the structure. In particular there
is no spin polarization in the one-dimensional wire for which spin dependent
solution is found analytically. The solution demonstrates spin evolution as
dependent on a length of wire. Numerical solution for transmission of electrons
through the two-dimensional curved waveguides coincides with the solution for
the one-dimensional wire if the energy of electron is within the first energy
subband. In the vicinity of edges of the energy subbands there are sharp
anomalies of spin flipping.Comment: 9 oages, 7 figure
Spin transport of electrons through quantum wires with spatially-modulated strength of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction
We study ballistic transport of spin-polarized electrons through quantum
wires in which the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) is
spatially modulated. Subband mixing, due to SOI, between the two lowest
subbands is taken into account. Simplified approximate expressions for the
transmission are obtained for electron energies close to the bottom of the
first subband and near the value for which anticrossing of the two lowest
subbands occurs. In structures with periodically varied SOI strength, {\it
square-wave} modulation on the spin transmission is found when only one subband
is occupied and its possible application to the spin transistor is discussed.
When two subbands are occupied the transmission is strongly affected by the
existence of SOI interfaces as well as by the subband mixing
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