Graphene-based electronic spin lenses

TL;DR

This paper proposes a theoretical model for a graphene-based spin lens that uses negative refraction at ferromagnetic-normal interfaces to focus electron waves with specific spin orientations, enabling spin-polarized electron beam collimation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel graphene spin lens leveraging spin-resolved negative refraction, expanding the potential for spintronic device applications.

Findings

Demonstrates spin-resolved negative refraction in ferromagnetic graphene

Proposes a graphene NFN spin lens for spin-polarized electron collimation

Highlights potential for electronic analogs of photonic chiral metamaterials

Abstract

We theoretically demonstrate the capability of a ferromagnetic-normal (FN) interface in graphene to focus an electron-wave with a certain spin direction. The essential feature is the negative refraction Klein tunneling, which is spin-resolved when the exchange energy of F graphene exceeds its Fermi energy. Exploiting this property, we propose a graphene NFN electronic spin lens through which an unpolarized electronic beam can be collimated with a finite spin-polarization. Our study reveals that magnetic graphene has the potential to be the electronic counterpart of the recently discovered photonic chiral meta-materials that exhibit a negative refractive index for only one direction of the circular polarization of the photon-wave.