Half-metal phases in a quantum wire with modulated spin-orbit interaction

TL;DR

This paper introduces a spin valve device utilizing modulated spin-orbit interaction and magnetic fields in a quantum wire, demonstrating tunable, robust half-metal phases with potential for spintronic applications.

Contribution

It presents a novel device concept and theoretical analysis showing the existence and robustness of half-metal phases in a quantum wire with modulated spin-orbit interaction.

Findings

Half-metal phases can be tuned by magnetic field variations.

These phases are robust against electron-electron interactions.

The study combines band diagonalization, bosonization, and DMRG methods.

Abstract

We propose a spin valve device based on the interplay of a modulated spin-orbit interaction and a uniform external magnetic field acting on a quantum wire. Half-metal phases, where electrons with only a selected spin polarization exhibit ballistic conductance, can be tuned by varying the magnetic field. These half-metal phases are proven to be robust against electron-electron repulsive interactions. Our results arise from a combination of explicit band diagonalization, bosonization techniques and extensive DMRG computations.