Spin current in an electron waveguide tunnel-coupled to topological insulator

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron tunneling from topological insulator edge states into a waveguide produces highly spin-polarized currents, with polarization influenced by electron interactions and scattering, and reveals a voltage-dependent spin current reversal.

Contribution

It demonstrates the generation of near-unity spin polarization through tunneling and analyzes the effects of electron-electron interactions and scattering on spin current behavior.

Findings

Spin polarization can approach unity in the waveguide.

Electron-electron interactions increase polarization via velocity renormalization.

Changing voltage can reverse the spin current direction.

Abstract

We show that electron tunneling from edge states in two-dimensional topological insulator into a parallel electron waveguide leads to the appearance of spin-polarized current in the waveguide. The spin polarization $P$ can be very close to unity and the electron current passing through the tunnel contact splits in the waveguide into two branches flowing from the contact. The polarization essentially depends on the electron scattering by the contact and the electron-electron interaction in the one-dimensional edge states. The electron-electron interaction is treated within the Luttinger liquid model. The main effect of the interaction stems from the renormalization of the electron velocity, due to which the polarization increases with the interaction strength. Electron scattering by the contact leads to a decrease in $P$. A specific effect occurs when the bottom of the subbands in the waveguide crosses the Dirac point of the spectrum of edge states when changing the voltage or chemical potential. This leads to changing the direction of the spin current.