Distinct edge states and optical conductivities in the zigzag and armchair silicene nanoribbons under exchange and electric fields

Based on the tight binding model, we investigate the low energy bandstructures, edge states, and optical absorptions for the silicene nanoribbons （SiNRs） with different terminations under an in-plane exchange field and/or a perpendicular electric field. We find that the zigzag SiNRs are gapped by the exchange field, but they could reenter the metallic state after the application of the electric field. Contrarily, a certain kind of armchair SiNRs remain gapless even if a weak exchange field is present. Furthermore, the combination of the exchange and electric fields could effectively modulate the penetration length and the components of the edge states in the SiNRs. The corresponding optical conductivities for the SiNRs are also calculated, which show remarkable dependence on the edge types of the SiNRs and the two external fields.