Spin-polarized transport through domain wall in magnetized graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin-polarized electrons pass through domain walls in graphene, revealing potential for spintronic applications and drawing analogies with relativistic plasma phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical analysis of ballistic spin-polarized transport through domain walls in graphene, highlighting its relevance for spintronic device development.

Findings

Spin-polarized charge carriers can pass through domain walls in graphene.

The phenomena are analogous to charge separation in quark-gluon plasma.

Potential applications in graphene-based spintronic devices.

Abstract

Atomically thin two-dimensional layer of honeycomb crystalline carbon known as graphene is a promising system for electronics. It has a point-like Fermi surface, which is very sensitive to external potentials. In particular, Zeeman magnetic field parallel to the graphene layer splits electron bands and creates fully spin-polarized and geometrically congruent circular Fermi surfaces of particle and hole type. In the presence of electric field, particles and holes with opposite spins drift in opposite direction. These phenomena are likely to be of interest for developing graphene-based spintronic devices. A domain wall (DW) separating regions with opposite spin polarizations is a basic element of such a device. Here we consider a ballistic passage of spin-polarized charge carriers through DW in graphene. We also discuss the analogy between the generation of spin currents in graphene and in relativistic quark-gluon plasma, where the spin-polarized current is responsible for the phenomenon of charge separation studied recently at RHIC.