Spin injection into a metal from a topological insulator

Abstract

We study a junction of a topological insulator with a thin two-dimensional (2D) non-magnetic or partially polarized ferromagnetic metallic film deposited on a 3D insulator. We show that such a junction leads to a finite spin current injection into the film whose magnitude can be controlled by tuning a voltage $V$ applied across the junction. For ferromagnetic films, the direction of the component of the spin current along the film magnetization can also be tuned by tuning the barrier potential $V_0$ at the junction. We point out the role of the chiral spin-momentum locking of the Dirac electrons behind this phenomenon and suggest experiments to test our theory.

Revised version with supplemental materials

References in corpus (13)

• Quantum Spin Hall Effect and Topological Phase Transition in HgTe Quantum Wells
• Quantum Spin Hall Insulator State in HgTe Quantum Wells
• Superconducting proximity effect and Majorana fermions at the surface of a topological insulator
• Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface
• A topological Dirac insulator in a quantum spin Hall phase : Experimental observation of first strong topological insulator
• Topological Field Theory of Time-Reversal Invariant Insulators
• First direct observation of Spin-textures in Topological Insulators : Spin-resolved ARPES as a probe of topological quantum spin Hall effect and Berry's phase
• Topological Surface States Protected From Backscattering by Chiral Spin Texture
• Three dimensional topological invariants for time reversal invariant Hamiltonians and the three dimensional quantum spin Hall effect
• Surface States of the Topological Insulator Bi_{1-x}Sb_x
• Electrically detected interferometry of Majorana fermions in a topological insulator
• Tunneling conductance of graphene NIS junctions
• Junction between surfaces of two topological insulators

Cited by in corpus (19)

• Room Temperature Electrical Detection of Spin Polarized Currents in Topological Insulators
• Nonequilibrium spin texture within a thin layer below the surface of current-carrying topological insulator Bi${}_2$Se${}_3$: A first-principles quantum transport study
• Spin-Seebeck effect on the surface of topological insulator due to nonequilibrium spin-polarization parallel to the direction of thermally driven electronic transport
• Coherent control of optical injection of spin and currents in topological insulators
• Edge states of a three-dimensional topological insulator
• Transport across a junction of topological insulators and a superconductor
• Dynamics of domain-wall Dirac fermions on a topological insulator: a chiral fermion beam splitter
• Inverse Edelstein effect of the surface states of a topological insulator
• Finite transverse conductance in topological insulators under an applied in-plane magnetic field
• Spin Transport and Spin Pump in Graphene-like Materials: Effect of tilt in Dirac cones
• Confining electrons on a topological insulator surface using potentials and a magnetic field
• Scattering in quantum wires and junctions of quantum wires with edge states of quantum spin Hall insulators
• Transport and STM studies of hyperbolic surface states of topological insulators
• Identifying Majorana bound states at quantum spin Hall edges using a metallic probe
• Tunable Majorana corner modes by orbital-dependent exchange interaction in a two-dimensional topological superconductor
• Transport in a thin topological insulator with potential and magnetic barriers
• Spin injection from topological insulator tunnel-coupled to metallic leads
• Manipulation of helical states revealed by crossed Andreev reflection
• Electronic confinement of surface states in a topological insulator nanowire