Magnetoresistance of a semiconducting magnetic wire with domain wall

TL;DR

This paper theoretically examines how Rashba spin-orbit interaction affects magnetoresistance in a semiconducting ferromagnetic wire with a sharp domain wall, revealing potential for large and increased magnetoresistance.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model showing the impact of Rashba spin-orbit interaction on magnetoresistance in nanostructures with domain walls, aligning with experimental findings.

Findings

Magnetoresistance can be significantly large with a sharp domain wall.

Spin-orbit interaction can enhance magnetoresistance.

Localization effects are briefly discussed.

Abstract

We investigate theoretically the influence of the spin-orbit interaction of Rashba type on the magnetoresistance of a semiconducting ferromagnetic nanostructure with a laterally constrained domain wall. The domain wall is assumed sharp (on the scale of the Fermi wave length of the charge carriers). It is shown that the magnetoresistance in such a case can be considerably large, which is in a qualitative agreement with recent experimental observations. It is also shown that spin-orbit interaction may result in an increase of the magnetoresistance. The role of localization corrections is also briefly discussed.