Spin-dependent transport of electrons in the presence of smooth lateral barrier and spin-orbit interaction

Abstract

We describe theoretically the process of multi-beam reflection in a two-dimensional electron system with a lateral potential barrier. Due to spin-orbital interaction, the reflection process leads to the formation of three beams with different spin polarizations. The efficiency of spin conversion can become small for smooth lateral barriers. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that the spin-conversion effect remains strong for realistic lithographical potentials and spin-orbit interactions in etched lateral nano-structures. The system with a lateral barrier suggests useful applications as a spin-filtering device. The expected quasi-classical adiabatic behavior without spin conversion is found in the system with a very strong spin-orbit interaction. We also consider the quasi-classical motion of electrons in a system with boundaries in a magnetic field and two magnetic focusing geometries.

23 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (16)

• Spin relaxation in narrow wires of a two-dimensional electron gas
• Evanescent states in 2D electron systems with spin-orbit interaction and spin-dependent transmission through a barrier
• Dimensional Dependence of Weak Localization Corrections and Spin Relaxation in Quantum Wires with Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Polarized Electric Current in Semiclassical Transport with Spin-Orbit Interaction
• Multichannel effects in Rashba quantum wires
• Measurement of non-commuting spin components using spin-orbit interaction
• Coherent Spin Amplification Using a Beam Splitter
• Pure spin-current generated by reflection at a normal metal/2DEG interface
• Current-induced spin polarization and the spin Hall effect: a quasiclassical approach
• Tunneling between 2D electron layers with correlated disorder: anomalous sensitivity to spin-orbit coupling
• Edge spin accumulation in 2D electron and hole systems in a quasi-ballistic regime
• Spin polarization of electron current through a potential barrier in two-dimensional structures with spin-orbit interaction
• Spin Filtering via Resonant Reflection of Relativistic Surface States
• How spin-orbit interaction can cause electronic shot noise
• Theory of Spin Hall Effects in Semiconductors
• Imaging transverse electron focusing in semiconducting heterostructures with spin-orbit coupling