Anomalous Josephson effect between d-wave superconductors through a two-dimensional electron gas with both Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting

Based on the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation and the extended McMillan’s Green’s function formalism,we study theoretically the Josephson effect between two d-wave superconductors bridged by a ballistic two-dimensional electron gas with both Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting.We show that due to the interplay of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting and d-wave pairing,the current-phase relation in such a heterostructure may exhibit a series of novel features and can change significantly as some relevant parameters are tuned.In particular,anomalous Josephson current may occur at zero phase bias under various different situations if both time reversal symmetry and inversion symmetry of the system are simultaneously broken,which can be realized by tuning some relevant parameters of the system,including the relative orientations and the strengths of the Zeeman field and the spin-orbit field in the bridge region,the relative orientations of the a axes in two superconductor leads,or the relative orientations between the Zeeman field in the bridge region and the a axes in the superconductor leads.We show that both the magnitude and the direction of the anomalous Josephson current may depend sensitively on these relevant parameters.

Spin current and its heat effect in a multichannel quantum wire with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Using the perturbation method, we theoretically study the spin current and its heat effect in a multichannel quantum wire with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The heat generated by the spin current is calculated. With the increase of the width of the quantum wire, the spin current and the heat generated both exhibit period oscillations with equal amplitudes. When the quantum-channel number is doubled, the oscillation periods of the spin current and of the heat generated both decrease by a factor of 2. For the spin current js,xy, the amplitude increases with the decrease of the quantum channel; while the amplitude of the spin current js,yx remains the same. Therefore we conclude that the effect of the quantum-channel number on the spin current js,xy is greater than that on the spin current js,yx. The strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling is tunable by the gate voltage, and the gate voltage can be varied experimentally, which implies a new method of detecting the. spin current. In addition, we can control the amplitude and the oscillation period of the spin current by controlling the number of the quantum channels. All these characteristics of the spin current will be very important for detecting and controlling the spin current, and especially for designing new spintronic devices in the future.

Transport properties in a multi-terminal regular polygonal quantum ring with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

Transport properties in a multi-terminal regular polygonal quantum ring with Rashba spin-orbit coupling （SOC） are investigated analytically using quantum networks and the transport matrix metLod. The results show that conduc- tances remain at exactly the same values when the output leads are located at axisymmetric positions. However, for the nonaxisymmetrical case, there is a phase difference between the upper and lower arm, which leads to zero conductances appearing periodically. An isotropy of the conductance is destroyed by the Rashba SOC effect in the axisymmetric case. In addition, the position of zero conductance is regulated with the strength of the Rashba SOC.

A pure spin-current injector of semiconductor quantum dots with Andreev reflection and Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We propose a four-terminal device consisting of two parallel quantum dots with Rashba spin-orbit interaction （RSOI）, coupled to two side superconductor leads and two common ferromagnetic leads, respectively. The two ferromagnetic leads and two quantum dots form a ring threaded by Aharonov-Bohm （AB） flux. This device possesses normal quasiparticle transmission between the two ferromagnetic leads, and normal and crossed Andreev reflections providing conductive holes. For the appropriate spin polarization of the ferromagnetic leads, RSOI and AB flux, the pure spin-up （or spin-down） current without net charge current in the right lead, which is due to the equal numbers of electrons and holes with the same spin-polarization moving along the same direction, can be obtained by adjusting the gate voltage, which may be used in practice as a pure spin-current injector.

Polarized spin transport in mesoscopic quantum rings with electron phonon and Rashba spin-orbit coupling

The influence of electron-phonon （EP） scattering on spin polarization of current output from a mesoscopic ring with Rashba spin-orbit （SO） interaction is numerically investigated. There are three leads connecting to the ring at different positionsl unpolarized current is injected to one of them, and the other two are output channels with different bias voltages. The spin polarization of current in the outgoing leads shows oscillations as a function of EP coupling strength owing to the quantum interference of EP states in the ring region. As temperature increases, the oscillations are evidently suppressed, implying decoherence of the EP states. The simulation shows that the magnitude of polarized current is sensitive to the location of the lead. The polarized current depends on the connecting position of the lead in a complicated way due to the spin-sensitive quantum interference effects caused by different phases accumulated by transmitting electrons with opposite spin states along different paths.

Coherent charge transport in ferromagnet/semiconductor nanowire/ferromagnet double barrier junctions with the interplay of Rashba spin-orbit coupling, induced superconducting pair potential,and external magnetic field

By solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation, the influence of the interplay of Rashba spin-orbit coupling, induced superconducting pair potential, and external magnetic field on the spin-polarized coherent charge transport in ferromagnet/semiconductor nanowire/ferromagnet double barrier junctions is investigated based on the Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory. The coherence effect is characterized by the strong oscillations of the charge conductance as a function of the bias voltage or the thickness of the semiconductor nanowire, resulting from the quantum interference of incoming and outgoing quasiparticles in the nanowire. Such oscillations can be effectively modulated by varying the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, the thickness of the nanowire, or the strength of the external magnetic field. It is also shown that two different types of zero-bias conductance peaks may occur under some particular conditions, which have some different characteristics and may be due to different mechanisms.

Interfacial spin Hall current in a Josephson junction with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We theoretically investigate the spin transport properties of the Cooper pairs in a conventional Josephson junction with Rashba spin-orbit coupling considered in one of the superconducting leads.It is found that an angle-resolved spin supercurrent flows through the junction and a nonzero interfacial spin Hall current driven by the superconducting phase difference also appears at the interface.The physical origin of this is that the Rashba spin-orbit coupling can induce a triplet order parameter in the s-wave superconductor.The interfacial spin Hall current dependences on the system parameters are also discussed.

Gate tunable Rashba spin-orbit coupling at CaZrO_(3)/SrTiO_(3)heterointerface

High mobility quasi two-dimensional electron gas(2DEG)found at the CaZrO_(3)/SrTiO_(3) nonpolar heterointerface is attractive and provides a platform for the development of functional devices and nanoelectronics.Here we report that the carrier density and mobility at low temperature can be tuned by gate voltage at the CaZrO_(3)/SrTiO_(3) interface.Furthermore,the magnitude of Rashba spin-orbit interaction can be modulated and increases with the gate voltage.Remarkably,the diffusion constant and the spin-orbit relaxation time can be strongly tuned by gate voltage.The diffusion constant increases by a factor of~19.98 and the relaxation time is reduced by a factor of over three orders of magnitude while the gate voltage is swept from-50 V to 100 V.These findings not only lay a foundation for further understanding the underlying mechanism of Rashba spin-orbit coupling,but also have great significance in developing various oxide functional devices.

Influence of spin-orbit coupling induced by in-plane external electric field on the intrinsic spin-Hall effect in a Rashba two-dimensional electron gas

We study theoretically the influence of spin-orbit coupling induced by in-plane external electric field on the intrinsic spin-Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that, after such an influence is taken into account, the static intrinsic spin-Hall effect can be stabilized in a disordered Rashba twodimensional electron gas, and the static intrinsic spin-Hall conductivity shall exhibit some interesting characteristics as conceived in some original theoretical proposals.

Influence of Rashba spin–orbit coupling on Josephson effect in triplet superconductor/two-dimensional semiconductor/triplet superconductor junctions

We study theoretically Josephson effect in a planar ballistic junction between two triplet superconductors with pwave orbital symmetries and separated by a two-dimensional(2D)semiconductor channel with strong Rashba spin–orbit coupling.In triplet superconductors,three types of orbital symmetries are considered.We use Bogoliubov–de Gennes formalism to describe quasiparticle propagations through the junction and the supercurrents are calculated in terms of Andreev reflection coefficients.The features of the variation of the supercurrents with the change of the strength of Rashba spin–orbit coupling are investigated in some detail.It is found that for the three types of orbital symmetries considered,both the magnitudes of supercurrent and the current-phase relations can be manipulated effectively by tuning the strength of Rashba spin–orbit coupling.The interplay of Rashba spin–orbit coupling and Zeeman magnetic field on supercurrent is also investigated in some detail.

Oscillation of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction driven by weak electric fields

Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction(DMI) is under extensive investigation considering its crucial status in chiral magnetic orders, such as Néel-type domain wall(DW) and skyrmions. It has been reported that the interfacial DMI originating from Rashba spin–orbit coupling(SOC) can be linearly tuned with strong external electric fields. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate that the strength of DMI exhibits rapid fluctuations, ranging from 10% to 30% of its original value, as a function of applied electric fields in Pt/Co/MgO heterostructures within the small field regime(< 10-2V/nm). Brillouin light scattering(BLS) experiments have been performed to measure DMI, and first-principles calculations show agreement with this observation, which can be explained by the variation in orbital hybridization at the Co/MgO interface in response to the weak electric fields. Our results on voltage control of DMI(VCDMI) suggest that research related to the voltage control of magnetic anisotropy for spin–orbit torque or the motion control of skyrmions might also have to consider the role of the external electric field on DMI as small voltages are generally used for the magnetoresistance detection.

The effect of k-cubic Dresselhaus spin orbit coupling on the decay time of persistent spin helix states in semiconductor two-dimensional electron gases

We study the theoretical effect of k-cubic （i.e, cubic-in-momentum） Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on the decay time of persistent spin helix states in semiconductor two-dimensional electron gases. We show that the decay time of persistent spin helix states may be suppressed substantially by k-cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling, and after taking the effect of k-cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction into account, the theoretical results obtained accord both qualitatively and quantitatively with other recent experimental results.

Phase diagram and collective modes in Rashba spin–orbit coupled BEC: Effect of in-plane magnetic field

We studied the system of pure Rashba spin–orbit coupled Bose gas with an in-plane magnetic field. Based on the mean field theory, we obtained the zero temperature phase diagram of the system which exhibits three phases, plane wave（PW） phase, striped wave（SW） phase, and zero momentum（ZM） phase. It was shown that with a growing in-plane field,both SW and ZM phases will eventually turn into the PW phase. Furthermore, we adopted the Bogoliubov theory to study the excitation spectrum as well as the sound speed.

Kondo screening cloud in a superconductor with mixed s-wave and p-wave pairing states

We study the Kondo screening of a spin-1/2 magnetic impurity coupled to a superconductor,which is fabricated by combination of an s-wave superconductor,a ferromagnet and a semiconductor with Rashba spin-orbit coupling(RSOC).The proximity induced superconducting states include the s-wave and p-wave pairing components with the aids of RSOC,and the ferromagnet induces a Zeeman field which removes the spin degeneracy of the quasiparticles in the triplet states.Thus,the Kondo screening of magnetic impurity involves the orbital degrees of freedom,and is also affected by the Zeeman field.Using the variational method,we calculate the binding energy and the spin-spin correlation between the magnetic impurity and the electrons in the coexisting s-wave and p-wave pairing states.We find that Kondo singlet forms more easily with stronger RSOC,but Zeeman field in general decreases the binding energy.The spin-spin correlation decays fast in the vicinity of the magnetic impurity.Due to the RSOC,the spatial spin-spin correlation becomes highly anisotropic,and the Zeeman field can induce extra asymmetry to the off-diagonal components of the spin-spin correlation.Our study can offer some insights into the studies of extrinsic topological superconductors fabricated from the hybrid structures containing chains of magnetic impurities.

Magnetization of two-dimensional heavy holes with boundaries in a perpendicular magnetic field

The magnetisation of heavy holes in III-V semiconductor quantum wells with Rashba spin-orbit coupling （SOC） in an external perpendicular magnetic field is studied theoretically. We concentrate on the effects on the magnetisation induced by the system boundary, the l^ashba SOC and the temperature. It is found that the sawtooth-like de Haas- van Alphen （dHvA） oscillations of the magnetisation will change dramatically in the presence of such three factors. Especially, the effects of the edge states and Rashba SOC on the magnetisation are more evident when the magnetic field is smaller. The oscillation center will shift when the boundary effect is considered and the Rashba SOC will bring beating patterns to the dHvA oscillations. These effects on the dHvA oscillations are preferably observed at low temperatures. With increasing temperature, the dHvA oscillations turn to be blurred and eventually disappear.

Proximity effects in normal mental/spin-splitting material/superconductor junctions

We extend the Blonder, Tinkham and Klapwijk （BTK） theory to the study of the coexistence between ferromagnetism and s-wave superconductivity in ferromagnet/superconductor （F/S） structures. It is found that the ferromagnetism and s-wave superconductivity can coexist near the F/S interface, which is induced by proximity effects. On the F side, the density of states （DOS） exhibits some superconducting-like properties, and it displays a damped oscillation from ‘0＇ to ‘v＇ states with increasing either the thickness of F film or the exchange energy. We also study the influences of the spin-polarized exchange splitting in the F and the spin-degeneracy by Rashba spin-orbit coupling （RSOC） in the two-dimensional electron gas （2DGE） on the proximity effects. It is shown that the case of Rashba spin-degeneracy is very different from that of the spin-polarized exchange splitting.

Landau-like quantized levels of neutral atom induced by a dark-soliton shaped electric field

Motivated by the fascinating progresses in the cold atom experiments and theories,especially the artificial gauge field induced spin–orbit coupling of neutral atoms,we present a novel dispersion of neutral atoms carrying a non-vanishing magnetic moment in a special gauge field,an external electric field of dark-soliton shaped profile.By means of WKB approximation,we obtain discrete quantized landau-like energy levels,which is instructive for the quantum Hall effect of neutral particles.The observability of the results is also discussed.

Photon-assisted electronic and spin transport through two T-shaped three-quantum-dot molecules embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

We investigate the time-modulated electronic and spin transport properties through two T-shaped three-quantum-dot molecules embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm（A-B） interferometer. By using the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green＇s function technique, the photon-assisted spin-dependent average current is analyzed. The T-shaped three-quantum-dot molecule A-B interferometer exhibits excellent controllability in the average current resonance spectra by adjusting the interdot coupling strength, Rashba spin-orbit coupling strength, magnetic flux, and amplitude of the time-dependent external field.Efficient spin filtering and multiple electron-photon pump functions are exploited in the multi-quantum-dot molecule A-B interferometer by a time-modulated external field.

Thermoelectric response of spin polarization in Rashba spintronic systems

Motivated by the recent discovery of a strongly spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional （2D） electron gas near the surface of Rashba semiconductors BiTeX （X = Cl, Br, I）, we calculate the thermoelectric responses of spin polarization in a 2D Rashba model. By self-consistently determining the energy- and band-dependent transport time, we present tion for elastic scattering. Using this solution, an exact solution of the linearized Boltzmann equa- we find a non-Edelstein electric-field-induced spin polarization that is linear in the Fermi energy EF when EF lies below the band crossing point. The spin polarization efficiency, which is the electric-field-induced spin polarization divided by the driven electric current, increases for smaller EF. We show that, as a function of EF, the temperature- gradient-induced spin polarization increases continuously to a saturation value when EF decreases below the band crossing point. As the temperature tends to zero, the temperature-gradient-induced spin polarization vanishes.

Controllable persistent spin-polarized charge current in a Rashba ring

We theoretically predict the appearance of a persistent charge current in a Rashba ring with a normal and a ferromagnetic lead under no external bias. This charge current is the result of the breaking of the time inversion symmetry in the original persistent pure spin current induced by the Rashba spin-orbit coupling （RSOC） in the ring due to the existence of the ferromagnetic lead. With the Keldysh Green＇s function technique, we find that not only the magnitude and sign but also the spin polarization of＇the generated charge current is determined by the system parameters such as the magnetization direction of the ferromagnetic lead, the tunneling coefficient, the strength of the RSOC and the exchange energy of the ferromagnetic lead, which are all tunable in experiments, that is, a controllable persistent spin-polarized charge current can be obtained in such a device.