Spin states and persistent currents in mesoscopic rings: spin-orbit interactions

Abstract

We investigate theoretically electron spin states in one dimensional (1D) and two dimensional (2D) hard-wall mesoscopic rings in the presence of both the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI) and the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (DSOI) in a perpendicular magnetic field. The Hamiltonian of the RSOI alone is mathematically equivalent to that of the DSOI alone using an SU(2) spin rotation transformation. Our theoretical results show that the interplay between the RSOI and DSOI results in an effective periodic potential, which consequently leads to gaps in the energy spectrum. This periodic potential also weakens and smoothens the oscillations of the persistent charge current (CC) and spin current (SC) and results in the localization of electrons. For a 2D ring with a finite width, higher radial modes destroy the periodic oscillations of persistent currents.

12 pages, 14 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Dissipationless Quantum Spin Current at Room Temperature
• Persistent current in ballistic mesoscopic rings with Rashba spin-orbit coupling
• Spin Hall Current Driven by Quantum Interferences in Mesoscopic Rashba Rings

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Anisotropic spin transport in two-terminal mesoscopic rings: the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions
• Magnetoconductance properties of rectangular arrays of spintronic quantum rings
• Persistent spin and charge currents and magnification effects in open ring conductors subject to Rashba coupling
• Interference induced preparation of spinpolarized electrons in a three-terminal quantum ring
• Photo-induced, non-equilibrium spin and charge polarization in quantum rings
• Spin-orbit coupling effect on the persistent currents in mesoscopic ring with an Anderson impurity