Charge and spin transport in spin valves with anisotropic spin relaxation

TL;DR

This paper explores how anisotropic spin relaxation, caused by spin-orbit effects, influences electronic transport in spin valves, revealing unexpected enhancements in spin accumulation due to anisotropic relaxation.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of anisotropic spin-relaxation times on transport properties in spin valves with quantum dots, highlighting the role of spin-orbit effects and inversion asymmetries.

Findings

Anisotropic spin relaxation significantly affects angular magnetoresistance.

Spin-relaxation anisotropy can enhance spin accumulation.

Transport properties are sensitive to spin-orbit splitting effects.

Abstract

We investigate effects of spin-orbit splitting on electronic transport in a spin valve consisting of a large quantum dot defined on a two-dimensional electron gas with two ferromagnetic contacts. In the presence of both structure inversion asymmetry (SIA) and bulk inversion asymmetry (BIA) a giant anisotropy in the spin-relaxation times has been predicted. We show how such an anisotropy affects the electronic transport properties such as the angular magnetoresistance and the spin-transfer torque. Counterintuitively, anisotropic spin-relaxation processes sometimes enhance the spin accumulation.