Longitudinal magnetoresistance in graphene with random Rashba spin-orbit interaction

TL;DR

This paper investigates how random Rashba spin-orbit interaction affects longitudinal magnetoresistance in graphene, showing that fluctuations cause negative magnetoresistance consistent with experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a model for low-energy graphene states with random Rashba interaction and uses Green functions to explain negative in-plane magnetoresistance.

Findings

Random Rashba fluctuations induce negative magnetoresistance.

The theoretical results align with experimental observations.

The model accurately describes low-energy transport in graphene with spin-orbit interactions.

Abstract

We consider longitudinal electronic transport in a graphene monolayer with an external in-plane magnetic field and with extrinsic spin-orbit Rashba interaction. Our main interest is in the in-plane magnetoresistance, observed experimentally. We show, that scattering on Rashba spin-orbit fluctuations leads to a negative magnetoresistance, in agreement with experimental observations. To calculate transport properties we assume an effective model valid for low energy states around the Dirac points, and use the Green function method to derive the electron scattering rate and longitudinal conductivity.