Spin polarization control by electric means: proposal for a spin diode

Abstract

A scheme of spin diode is proposed that uses a step-like quantum wire with Rashba spin-orbit interaction, connected to two leads with different width. It is shown that a very large vertical spin-polarized current can be generated when electrons transmit from the narrow lead to the wide lead, however, it vanishes or becomes very weak when the transport direction is reversed. This difference is revealed to arise from the different local density of electron states of the quantum wire, which is dependent on the direction of bias. The spin-polarized current in the proposed structure can be generated and manipulated by purely electric means and with strong a robustness against disorder, displaying the feasibility of this structure for a real application.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (9)

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Full electrical control of Charge and Spin conductance through Interferometry of Edge States in Topological Insulators
• Modulated Rashba interaction in a quantum wire: Spin and charge dynamics
• Spin current evolution in the separated spin-up and spin-down quantum hydrodynamics
• Spin-dependent electron transport in a Rashba quantum wire with rough edges
• Spin-polarized current separator based on a fork-shaped Rashba nanostructure
• Half-metal phases in a quantum wire with modulated spin-orbit interaction
• Spin-filtering and charge- and spin-switching effects in a quantum wire with periodically attached stubs
• Spin polarization direction switch based on an asymmetrical quantum wire
• Local spin polarisation of electrons in Rashba semiconductor nanowires: effects of the bound state
• Confinement of spin-orbit induced Dirac states in quantum point contacts
• Long range alternating spin current order in a quantum wire with modulated spin-orbit interactions