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.

Rashba spin-orbit coupling induced rectified currents in monolayer graphene with exchange field and sublattice potential

We investigate the effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling(RSOC)on photoconductivities of rectified currents in monolayer graphene with exchange field and sublattice potential.The system shows that the photoconductivities of resonant shift and injection current contributions are nonzero,while the photoconductivities of non-resonant shift current contribution are zero.We find that the RSOC induces a warping term,which leads to the nonzero rectified currents.Moreover,the photoconductivities of resonant injection(shift)current contribution are(not)related to the relaxation rate.The similar behavior can be found in other Dirac materials,and our findings provide a way to tune the nonlinear transport properties of Dirac materials.

Field-assisted electron transport through a symmetric double-well structure with spin-orbit coupling and the Fano-resonance induced spin filtering

We have investigated theoretically the field-driven electron-transport through a double-quantum-well semiconductor-heterostructure with spin-orbit coupling. The numerical results demonstrate that the transmission spectra are divided into two sets due to the bound-state level-splitting and each set contains two asymmetric resonance peaks which may be selectively suppressed by changing the difference in phase between two driving fields. When the phase difference changes from 0 to π, the dip of asymmetric resonance shifts from one side of resonance peak to the other side and the asymmetric Fano resonance degenerates into the symmetric Breit-Wigner resonance at a critical value of phase difference. Within a given range of incident electron energy, the spin polarization of transmission current is completely governed by the phase difference which may be used to realize the tunable spin filtering.

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.

Characteristics of anomalous Hall effect in spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gases in the presence of both intrinsic,extrinsic,and external electric-field induced spin-orbit couplings

The various competing contributions to the anomalous Hall effect in spin-polarized two-dimensional electron gases in the presence of both intrinsic, extrinsic and external electric-field induced spin-orbit coupling were investigated theoretically. Based on a unified semiclassical theoretical approach, it is shown that the total anomalous Hall conductivity can be expressed as the sum of three distinct contributions in the presence of these competing spin-orbit interactions, namely an intrinsic contribution determined by the Berry curvature in the momentum space, an extrinsic contribution determined by the modified Bloch band group velocity and an extrinsic contribution determined by spin-orbit-dependent impurity scattering. The characteristics of these competing contributions are discussed in detail in the paper.

Electron resonance-transmission through a driven quantum well with spin-orbit coupling

We have studied the spin-dependent electron transmission through a quantum well driven by both dipole-type and homogeneous oscillating fields. The numerical evaluations show that Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling induces the splitting of asymmetric Fano-type resonance peaks in the conductivity, in which the dipole modulation and the homogeneous modulation are equivalent. Therefore, we predict that the dipole-type oscillation, which is more practical in the experimental setup, can be used to realize the tunable spin filters by adjusting the field oscillation-frequency and the amplitude as well.

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.

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.

Spin transport in a chain of polygonal quantum rings with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling

Using a transfer matrix method, we investigate spin transport through a chain of polygonal rings with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling（DSOC）. The spin conductance is dependent on the number of sides in the polygons. When DSOC is considered in a chain which also has Rashba spin-orbit coupling（RSOC） of the same magnitude, the total conductance is the same as that for the same chain with no SOC. However, when the two types of SOC have different values, there results a unique anisotropic conductance.

Theoretical Study on the Spectroscopic Parameters and Transition Properties of MgH Radical Including Spin-orbit Coupling

An accurate theoretical study on the MgH radical is reported by adopting the high-level relativistic MRCI＋Q method with a quintuple-zeta quality basis set. The reliable potential energy curves of the five A-S states of MgH are derived. Then the associated spectroscopic parameters are determined and found to be in good accordance with the available experimental results. The permanent dipole moments （PDMs） and the spin-orbit （SO） matrix elements of A-S states are computed. The results show that the abrupt changes of PDMs and SO matrix elements are attributed to the variations of electronic configurations at the avoided crossing point. The SOC effect leads to the five A-S states split into ten Ω states and results in the double potential well of （2）1//2 state. Finally, the transition properties from the （2）1//2, （1）3//2 and （3）1//2 states to the ground state X2∑＋1//2 transitions are obtained, including the transition dipole moments, Franck-Condon factors and radiative lifetimes.

Spin and spin-orbit coupling effects in nickel-based superalloys:A first-principles study on Ni_(3)Al doped with Ta/W/Re

Heavy elements(X=Ta/W/Re)play an important role in the performance of superalloys,which enhance the strength,anti-oxidation,creep resistance,and anti-corrosiveness of alloy materials in a high-temperature environment.In the present research,the heavy element doping effects in FCC-Ni(γ)and Ni_(3)Al(γ')systems are investigated in terms of their thermodynamic and mechanical properties,as well as electronic structures.The lattice constant,bulk modulus,elastic constant,and dopant formation energy in non-spin,spin polarized,and spin-orbit coupling(SOC)calculations are compared.The results show that the SOC effects are important in accurate electronic structure calculations for alloys with heavy elements.We find that including spin for bothγandγ'phases is necessary and sufficient for most cases,but the dopant formation energy is sensitive to different spin effects,for instance,in the absence of SOC,even spin-polarized calculations give 1%to 9%variance in the dopant formation energy in our model.Electronic structures calculations indicate that spin polarization causes a split in the metal d states,and SOC introduces a variance in the spin-up and spin-down states of the d states of heavy metals and reduces the magnetic moment of the system.

Tunable valley filter efficiency by spin-orbit coupling in silicene nanoconstrictions

Valley filter is a promising device for producing valley polarized current in graphene-like two-dimensional honeycomb lattice materials.The relatively large spin-orbit coupling in silicene contributes to remarkable quantum spin Hall effect,which leads to distinctive valley-dependent transport properties compared with intrinsic graphene.In this paper,quantized conductance and valley polarization in silicene nanoconstrictions are theoretically investigated in quantum spin-Hall insulator phase.Nearly perfect valley filter effect is found by aligning the gate voltage in the central constriction region.However,the valley polarization plateaus are shifted with the increase of spin-orbit coupling strength,accompanied by smooth variation of polarization reversal.Our findings provide new strategies to control the valley polarization in valleytronic devices.

Negative tunnelling magnetoresistance in spin filtering magnetic junctions with spin-orbit coupling

We present theoretical calculations of spin transport in spin filtering magnetic tunnelling junctions based on the Landauer Biittiker formalism and taking into account the spin-orbit coupling （SOC）. It is shown that spin-flip scattering induced by SOC is stronger in parallel alignment of magnetization of the ferromegnet barrier （FB） and the ferromagnetic electrode than that in antiparallel case. The increase of negative tunnelling magnetoresistance with bias is in agreement with recent experimental observation.

Topological superfluid in a two-dimensional polarized Fermi gas with spin-orbit coupling and adiabatic rotation

We study the properties of superfluid in a two-dimensional （2D） polarized Fermi gas with spin-orbit coupling and adiabatic rotation which are trapped in a harmonic potential. Due to the competition between polarization, spin-orbit coupling, and adiabatic rotation, the Fermi gas exhibits many intriguing phenomena. By using the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer （BCS） mean-field method with local density approximation, we investigate the dependence of order parameter solution on the spin-orbit coupling strength and the rotation velocity. The energy spectra with different rotation velocities are studied in detail. Besides, the conditions for the zero-energy Majorana fermions in topological superfluid phase to be observed are obtained. By investigating distributions of number density, we find that the rotation has opposite effect on the distribution of number density with different spins, which leads to the enhancement of the polarization of Fermi gas. Here, we focus on the region of BCS pairing and ignore the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov state.

Mitigating the Jahn-Teller distortion driven by the spin-orbit coupling of lithium manganate cathode

Spinel LiMn_(2)O_(4)is recognized as one of the most competitive cathode candidates for lithium-ion batteries ascribed to environmentally benign and rich sources.However,the wholesale application of LiMn_(2)O_(4)is predominately plagued by its severe capacity degradation,mainly associated with the innate Jahn-Teller effect.Herein,single-crystalline LiMn_(2)O_(4)with Eu^(3+) doping is rationally designed to mitigate the detrimental Jahn-Teller distortion by tuning the chemical environment of MnO_(6) octahedra and accommodating localized electron,based on the unique aspheric flexible 4f electron orbit of rare-earth metal ions.Notably,the stretching of MnO_(6) octahedron stemmed from the Jahn-Teller effect in Eu-doped LiMn_(2)O_(4)is effectively suppressed,confirmed by theoretical calculation.Meanwhile,the structural stability of the material has been significantly enhanced due to the robust Mn–O band coherency and weakened phase transition,proved by synchrotron radiation absorption spectrum and operando X-ray diffraction.The corresponding active cathode manifests superior long-cycle stability after 300 loops at 2C and displays only a 0.011%capacity drop per cycle even at 5C.Given this,this modification tactic sheds new light on achieving superior long-cycle performances by suppressing distortion in various cathode materials.

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.

Manipulating vortices in F=2 Bose-Einstein condensates through magnetic field and spin-orbit coupling

We investigate the vortex structures excited by Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic field and Dresselhaus-type spin-orbit coupling in F=2 ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensates.In the weakly interatomic interacting regime,an external magnetic field can generate a polar-core vortex in which the canonical particle current is zero.With the combined effect of spin-orbit coupling and magnetic field,the ground state experiences a transition from polar-core vortex to Mermin-Ho vortex,in which the canonical particle current is anticlockwise.For fixed spin-orbit coupling strengths,the evolution of phase winding,magnetization,and degree of phase separation with magnetic field are studied.Additionally,with further increasing spin-orbit coupling strength,the condensate exhibits symmetrical density domains separated by radial vortex arrays.Our work paves the way to explore exotic topological excitations in high-spin systems.

Spin-orbit coupling adjusting topological superfluid of mass-imbalanced Fermi gas

Topological superfluid state is different from the normal superfluid one due to the excitation energy gap on the boundary.How to obtain the topological superfluid state by using spin-orbit coupling to control the s-waves paired mass-imbalanced Fermi gas is a recent novel topic.In this paper,we study the topological superfluid phase diagram of two-dimensional mass-imbalanced Fermi gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling at zero temperature.We find that due to the competition among mass imbalance,pairing interaction and spin-orbit coupling,there is a double-well structure in the thermodynamic potential,which affects the properties of the ground state of the system.We comprehensively give the phase diagrams of the system on the plane of spin-orbit coupling and chemical potential,and the phase diagrams on the plane of the reduced mass ratio and two-body binding energy.This study not only points out the stable region of topolog-ical superfluid state of mass-imbalanced Fermi gas,but also provides a detailed theoretical basis for better observation of topological superfluid state in experiments.

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.

Vortex chains induced by anisotropic spin-orbit coupling and magnetic field in spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate the anisotropic spin-orbit coupled spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates with Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic field.With nonzero magnetic field,anisotropic spin-orbit coupling will introduce several vortices and further generate a vortex chain.Inside the vortex chain,the vortices connect to each other,forming a line along the axis.The physical nature of the vortex chain can be explained by the particle current and the momentum distribution.The vortex number inside the vortex chain can be influenced via varying the magnetic field.Through adjusting the anisotropy of the spin-orbit coupling,the direction of the vortex chain is changed,and the vortex lattice can be triggered.Moreover,accompanied by the variation of the atomic interactions,the density and the momentum distribution of the vortex chain are affected.The realization and the detection of the vortex chain are compatible with current experimental techniques.