Spin Filtering in a Nonuniform Quantum Wire with Rashba Spin-Orbit Interaction

Abstract

We investigate theoretically the spin-polarized electron transport for a wide-narrow-wide (WNW) quantum wire under the modulation of Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI). The influence of both the structure of the quantum wire and the interference between different pairs of subbands on the spin-polarized electron transport is taken into account simultaneously via the spin-resolved lattice Green function method. It is found that a very large vertical spin-polarized current can be generated by the SOI-induced effective magnetic field at the structure-induced Fano resonance even in the presence of strong disorder. Furthermore, the magnitude of the spin polarization can be tuned by both the Rashba SOI strength and structural parameters. Our results may provide an effective way to design a spin filter device without containing any magnetic materials or applying a magnetic field.

7 pagesm, 6 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Quantum rings as electron spin beam splitters
• Fano-Rashba effect in a quantum wire
• Networks of quantum nanorings: programmable spintronic devices
• Spin filtering by a periodic nanospintronic devices
• Metal-insulator transition in a quantum wire driven by a modulated Rashba spin-orbit coupling
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Cited by in corpus (5)

• Externally controlled high degree of spin polarization and spin inversion in a conducting junction: Two new approaches
• Spin polarization control by electric means: proposal for a spin diode
• Spin-polarized current separator based on a fork-shaped Rashba nanostructure
• A one-dimensional spin-orbit interferometer
• Spin polarization direction switch based on an asymmetrical quantum wire