Spin Hall Current Driven by Quantum Interferences in Mesoscopic Rashba Rings

Abstract

We propose an all-electrical nanoscopic structure where {\em pure} spin current is induced in the transverse voltage probes attached to {\em quantum-coherent} one-dimensional ring when conventional unpolarized charge current is injected through its longitudinal leads. Tuning of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling in semiconductor heterostructure hosting the ring generates quasi-periodic oscillations of the predicted spin Hall current due to {\em spin-sensitive quantum-interference effects} caused by the difference in Aharonov-Casher phase acquired by opposite spins states traveling clockwise and counterclockwise. Its amplitude is comparable to the mesoscopic spin Hall current predicted for finite-size two-dimensional electron gases, while it gets reduced in wide two-dimensional or disordered rings.

5 pages, 4 color figures

References in corpus (2)

• Spin current and polarization in impure 2D electron systems with spin-orbit coupling
• Modulating Unpolarized Current in Quantum Spintronics: Visibility of Spin-Interference Effects in Multichannel Aharonov-Casher Mesoscopic Rings

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Quantum rings as electron spin beam splitters
• Imaging mesoscopic spin Hall flow: Spatial distribution of local spin currents and spin densities in and out of multiterminal spin-orbit coupled semiconductor nanostructures
• Decoherence of transported spin in multichannel spin-orbit coupled spintronic devices: Scattering approach to spin density matrix from the ballistic to the localized regime
• Mesoscopic Spin Hall Effect in Multiprobe Ballistic Spin-Orbit Coupled Semiconductor Bridges
• Transverse Spin-Orbit Force in the Spin Hall Effect in Ballistic Semiconductor Wires
• Spin accumulation in ballistic Rashba bar