Spin-dependent tunneling in double-barrier semiconductor heterostructures

Voskoboynikov, A.; Liu, Shiue Shin; Lee, C. P.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.59.12514

Cited by 109 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In microstructures with a Sharvin-type resistance [43], the resistance quantum h/e 2 , h = 2πh , plays the role of the time-symmetry breaking parameter. E.g., the resonant-tunneling-diode spin-filters proposed by Voskoboynikov et al [44] are controlled by τ p while their modification proposed by Koga et al [45] might be controlled by h/e 2 . When τ p ≪h/α R k F , the magnetization is long living due to the Dyakonov -Perel process [46], EDSR line is dynamically narrowed [24], quasiequilibrium in the orbital degrees of freedom is established [24,46], and propagation of the magnetization M ( r , t) is controlled by diffusion, drift, and appropriate SO corrections.…”

Section: Generating Spin Fluxes and Spin Polarizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spin Dynamics and Spin Transport

Rashba

2005

J Supercond

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Spin-orbit (SO) interaction critically influences electron spin dynamics and spin transport in bulk semiconductors and semiconductor microstructures. This interaction couples electron spin to dc and ac electric fields. Spin coupling to ac electric fields allows efficient spin manipulating by the electric component of electromagnetic field through the electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR) mechanism. Usually, it is much more efficient than the magnetic manipulation due to a larger coupling constant and the easier access to spins at a nanometer scale. The dependence of the EDSR intensity on the magnetic field direction allows measuring the relative strengths of the competing SO coupling mechanisms in quantum wells. Spin coupling to an in-plane electric field is much stronger than to a perpendicular field. Because electron bands in microstructures are spin split by SO interaction, electron spin is not conserved and spin transport in them is controlled by a number of competing parameters, hence, it is rather nontrivial. The relation between spin transport, spin currents, and spin populations is critically discussed. Importance of transients and sharp gradients for generating spin magnetization by electric fields and for ballistic spin transport is clarified.

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Section: Generating Spin Fluxes and Spin Polarizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spin Dynamics and Spin Transport

Rashba

2005

J Supercond

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“…where ε(K x , k y , s) is defined by Eqs (8), (9), (11) in accordance with the energy spectrum branch (1, 2 or 3), which is considered. In the present section we restrict ourselves by branch 3.…”

Section: Tunneling Currents Through a Barrier With Soimentioning

confidence: 99%

Evanescent states in two-dimensional electron systems with spin-orbit interaction and spin-dependent transmission through a barrier

Sablikov

Tkach

2007

Phys. Rev. B

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We find that the total spectrum of electron states in a bounded 2D electron gas with spin-orbit interaction contains two types of evanescent states lying in different energy ranges. The first-type states fill in a gap, which opens in the band of propagating spin-splitted states if tangential momentum is nonzero. They are described by a pure imaginary wavevector. The states of second type lie in the forbidden band. They are described by a complex wavevector. These states give rise to unusual features of the electron transmission through a lateral potential barrier with spin-orbit interaction, such as an oscillatory dependence of the tunneling coefficient on the barrier width and electron energy. But of most interest is the spin polarization of an unpolarized incident electron flow. Particularly, the transmitted electron current acquires spin polarization even if the distribution function of incident electrons is symmetric with respect to the transverse momentum. The polarization efficiency is an oscillatory function of the barrier width. Spin filtering is most effective, if the Fermi energy is close to the barrier height.

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“…This effect is caused by the interface-induced Rashba spin-orbit coupling [4] and can be quite significant for resonant tunneling through asymmetric double-barrier structure [5].…”

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Spin-dependent tunneling through a symmetric semiconductor barrier: The Dresselhaus effect

et al. 2005

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Spin-dependent tunneling through a symmetric semiconductor barrier is studied including the k 3 Dresselhaus effect. The spin-dependent transmission of electron can be obtained analytically.By comparing with previous work(Phys. Rev. B 67. R201304 (2003) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 93. (2004)), it is shown that the spin polarization and interface current are changed significantly by including the off-diagonal elements in the current operator, and can be enhanced considerably by the Dresselhaus effect in the contact regions.PACS numbers: 72.25. Dc, 72.25.Mk, 73.40.Gk * Correspondence should be sent to: kchang@red.semi.ac.cn 1 Recently electron spin in semiconductors has attracted a rapidly growing interest due to its potential application in spintronics devices. To successfully incorporate spin into existing semiconductor technology, one has to overcome technical difficulties such as efficient spin-polarized injection, transport, control and manipulation, as well as measurement of spin polarization. The injection of spin-polarized electrons from ferromagnetic metals into semiconductors has low efficiency, less than 1%, because of a large resistivity mismatch between ferromagnetic and semiconductor materials [1]. Rashba proposed that this problem could be solved by inserting a tunneling barrier at the metal-semiconductor interface [2].Asymmetric nonmagnetic semiconductor barriers are also used in the construction of spin filters [3]. This effect is caused by the interface-induced Rashba spin-orbit coupling [4] and can be quite significant for resonant tunneling through asymmetric double-barrier structure [5].Very recently, a multichannel field-effect spin-barrier selector was investigated theoretically utilizing the Rashba and Dresselhaus effects [6]. A considerable spin polarization and an interesting "tunneling spin-galvanic" effect were found in the tunneling of electron through a single symmetric barrier utilizing the Dresselhaus effect in the barrier [7,8]. However, the off-diagonal elements in the current operator, the contribution from the Dresselhaus effect, are neglected in these works. These off-diagonal element in the currents operator could lead to the significant correction of the spin-dependent transmission, especially in a thin barrier case.In this paper, we investigate theoretically the spin-dependent tunneling through a single symmetric barrier. The barrier and contacts consist of a zinc-blende-structure semiconductor lacking the inversion symmetry. It is shown that the spin-dependent tunneling and the electric current in the plane of the interfaces are different from the previous studies [7]. This difference is significant in thin barrier case and disappears gradually with increasing the thickness of the barrier. It is interesting to notice that the spin polarization and the interface current j are enhanced by including the Dresselhaus effect in the contact regions.We consider the transmission of an electron with initial wave vector k = (k , k z ) through a flat potential barrier of height V grown...

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Spin-dependent tunneling in double-barrier semiconductor heterostructures

Cited by 109 publications

References 28 publications

Spin Dynamics and Spin Transport

Spin Dynamics and Spin Transport

Evanescent states in two-dimensional electron systems with spin-orbit interaction and spin-dependent transmission through a barrier

Spin-dependent tunneling through a symmetric semiconductor barrier: The Dresselhaus effect

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