Dario Bercioux

Spin polarization of electrons with Rashba double-refraction

We demonstrate how the Rashba spin?orbit coupling in semiconductor heterostructures can produce and control a spin-polarized current without ferromagnetic leads. The key idea is to use spin-double refraction of an electronic beam with a nonzero incidence angle. A region where the spin?orbit coupling is present separates the source and the drain without spin?orbit coupling. We show how the transmission and the beam spin polarization critically depend on the incidence angle. The transmission halves when the incidence angle is greater than a limit angle and a significant spin polarization appears. On increasing the spin?orbit coupling one can obtain the modulation of the intensity and of the spin polarization of the output electronic current when the input current is unpolarized. Our analysis shows the possibility of realizing a spin-field-effect transistor based on the propagation of only one mode with the region with spin?orbit coupling, whereas the original Datta and Das device (1990 Appl.?Phys.?Lett. 56 665) uses the spin precession that originates from the interference between two modes with orthogonal spin.

Rashba-effect-induced localization in quantum networks.

We study a quantum network extending in one dimension (chain of square loops connected at one vertex) made up of quantum wires with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that the Rashba effect may give rise to an electron localization phenomenon similar to the one induced by magnetic field. This localization effect can be attributed to the spin precession due to the Rashba effect. We present results both for the spectral properties of the infinite chain and for linear transport through a finite-size chain connected to leads. Furthermore, we study the effect of disorder on the transport properties of this network.

Rashba effect in quantum networks

We present a formalism to study quantum networks made up by single-channel quantum wires in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and magnetic field. In particular, linear transport through one-dimensional and two-dimensional finite-size networks is studied by means of the scattering formalism. In some particular quantum networks, the action of the magnetic field or of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling induces localization of the electron wave function. This phenomenon, which relies on both the quantum-mechanical interference and the geometry of the network, is manifested through the suppression of the conductance for specific values of the spin-orbit-coupling strength or of the magnetic field. Furthermore, the interplay of the Aharonov-Bohm phases and of the non-Abelian phases introduced by spin-orbit coupling, is discussed in a number of cases.

Massless Dirac-Weyl fermions in a T3 optical lattice

We propose an experimental setup for the observation of quasi-relativistic massless Fermions. It is based on a T3 optical lattice, realized by three pairs of counter-propagating lasers, filled with fermionic cold atoms. We show that in the long wavelength approximation the T3 Hamiltonian generalizes the Dirac-Weyl Hamiltonian for the honeycomb lattice, however, with a larger value of the pseudo-spin S = 1. In addition to the Dirac cones, the spectrum includes a dispersionless branch of localized states producing a finite jump in the atomic density. Furthermore, implications for the Landau levels are discussed.

Rashba quantum wire : exact solution and ballistic transport

The effect of Rashba spin-orbit interaction in quantum wires with hard-wall boundaries is discussed. The exact wavefunction and eigenvalue equation are worked out, pointing out the mixing between the spin and spatial parts. The spectral properties are also studied within perturbation theory with respect to the strength of the spin-orbit interaction and diagonalization procedure. A comparison is made with the results of a simple model, the two-band model, that takes account only of the first two sub-bands of the wire. Finally, the transport properties within the ballistic regime are analytically calculated for the two-band model and through a tight-binding Green function for the entire system. Single and double interfaces separating regions with different strengths of spin-orbit interaction are analysed by injecting carriers into the first and the second sub-band. It is shown that in the case of a single interface the spin polarization in the Rashba region is different from zero, and in the case of two interfaces the spin polarization shows oscillations due to spin-selective bound states.

Zeeman ratchets: pure spin current generation in mesoscopic conductors with non-uniform magnetic fields

We consider the possibility to employ a quantum wire realized in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) as a spin ratchet. We show that a net spin current without accompanying net charge transport can be induced in the nonlinear regime by an unbiased external driving via an ac voltage applied between the contacts at the ends of the quantum wire. To achieve this, we make use of the coupling of the electron spin to inhomogeneous magnetic fields created by ferromagnetic stripes patterned on the semiconductor heterostructure that harbors the 2DEG. Using recursive Green function techniques, we numerically study two different set-ups, consisting of one and two ferromagnetic stripes, respectively.

Proposal for an on-demand source of polarized electrons into the edges of a topological insulator

We propose a device that allows for the emission of pairs of spin-polarized electrons into the edge-states of a two dimensional topological insulator. Charge and spin emission is achieved using a periodically driven quantum dot weakly coupled to the edge states of the host topological insulator. We present calculations of the emitted time-dependent charge and spin currents of such a dynamical scatterer using the Floquet scattering matrix approach. Experimental signatures of spin-polarized two-particle emission can be found in noise measurements. Here a new form of noise suppression, named

Rashba spin-orbit-interaction-based quantum pump in graphene

\mathbb{Z}_2

Quantum dissipative Rashba spin ratchets.

--antibunching, is introduced. Additionally, we propose a set-up in which entanglement of the emitted electrons is generated. This entanglement is based on a post-selection procedure and becomes manifest in a violation of a Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality.

Dirac-Weyl electrons in a periodic spin-orbit potential

We present a proposal for an adiabatic quantum pump based on a graphene monolayer patterned by electrostatic gates and operated in the low-energy Dirac regime. The setup under investigation works in the presence of inhomogeneous spin-orbit interactions of intrinsic- and Rashba-type and allows to generate spin polarized coherent currents. A local spin polarized current is induced by the pumping mechanism assisted by the spin-double refraction phenomenon.