Physica E 43 (2010) 207–210

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Physica E
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/physe

Rashba spin–orbit interaction effects on graphene quantum system

Chunxu Bai a,n, Juntao Wang b, Junlong Tian a, Yanling Yang a
a
College of Physics and Electrical Engineering, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, China
b
Department of Mathematics, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453000, China

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: Based on the transfer-matrix method, we have investigated the spin polarized transport properties of
Received 21 May 2010 the electrons through ballistic graphene-based quantum tunneling junction with the Rashba spin–orbit
Received in revised form interaction (RSOI). It is found that the spin-dependent conductance as well as the spin polarization rate
30 June 2010
oscillates with the RSOI strength lR and the energy E of the incident electron. The oscillation features of
Accepted 14 July 2010
the spin polarization rate and the conductance can be tuned largely by the RSOI for lR 5 E, while for
Available online 18 July 2010
lR ZE they are almost independent of the RSOI. These phenomena are essentially different from those
found in conventional double tunneling junction.
& 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction semiconductor heterostructures and two-dimensional electron

Recently, there has been a growing interest in studying the
physical properties of graphene and graphene-based microstruc-
tures since their experimental realization [1]. In graphene, the
quasiparticle excitations around the Dirac point obey linear Dirac-
like energy dispersion law, which can be described by a two-
dimensional Dirac equation [2–6]. In particular, recent researches
have shown that the spin–orbit interaction has generated
considerable interest [7–17]. For example, the intrinsic spin–orbit
interaction in graphene can generate the spin-polarized edge
states and result in a new phase of matter, the quantum spin Hall
phase [8]. Unfortunately, the strength of the intrinsic spin–orbit
interaction estimated by many authors is very small, about
0.05–00011 meV [10]. Fortunately, as graphene is a true
two-dimensional material, it is expected that a more prominent
RSOI may exhibit in the material. Indeed, if graphene is grown
directly onto the ferromagnetic substrate by catalytic methods,
the RSOI strength lR can reach values up to 200 meV, which has
been reported experimentally [11], although it is predicted in the
range of 1 meV [12–14]. Since the RSOI can be tuned by an
external electric field, such functionality is intensively important
in spintronics [18,19] and can be used as a spin-transistor device.
In recent years, the growing field of spintronics has attracted a
lot of interest after the pioneering proposal of the spin-field effect
transistor (spin-FET) by Datta and Das [20]. This proposal uses the
RSOI to perform manipulated rotations of the spin of electrons
passing through a field effect transistor device operating in the
ballistic transport regime. Therefore, the effect of the RSOI in
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: chunxu_bai@yahoo.cn (C. Bai).
gas (2DEG) has attracted an increasing amount of attention [21].
One of the greatest challenges in the field of spintronics is to
generate a source of spin-polarized currents. In particular, the
injection of a spin-polarized current through a single ferro-
magnet–2DEG interface may yield many obvious advantages.
Unfortunately, the spin polarization measured in Refs. [22,23] is
very small, about 1% or less. The basic obstacle for the spin
injection from a ferromagnetic lead into a 2DEG lead originates
from the conductance mismatch between the two materials [24].
As a consequence, some devices that achieve spin filtering
without using ferromagnetic leads have been proposed [25–29].
The main aim of this study is the attempt to obtain high spin
injection efficiency via the RSOI in the graphene-based quantum
system. Motivated by this, in this study we investigate the effects
of RSOI on the transport properties of the relativistic electron
through graphene-based double structures. It is shown that a
spin-polarized conductance can be achieved by using the RSOI
and spin-unpolarized electrons. Therefore, the injection of the
relativistic electron in the present structures is a way to realize
the spin polarization because the output spin up conductance is
different from the spin down conductance.
2. Model and theory
We consider an electron passing through a graphene-based
region with the RSOI (RSOG), which is sandwiched by a graphene-
based normal metal in which the RSOI is absent (NG). In the
double junctions, the left and right leads are made of the same
metal lead. The sketch of the double junctions is shown in Fig. 1.
The growth direction is taken as the x-axis. The RSOI of the
graphene can be implemented by growing graphene on a Ni

1386-9477/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physe.2010.07.011
208 C. Bai et al. / Physica E 43 (2010) 207–210

y Next, we find the eigenstates of single-particle Hamiltonian (1)

with energy E

7 1
NG RSOG NG jNmk ðxÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð1,0, 7 e 7 ia ,0Þe 7 ikN x
cos a
1
7
jRsðsÞ ðxÞ ¼ pffiffiffi ðC,sðsÞi,1,DÞe 7 ikRsðsÞ x ð6Þ
0 l x 2

with
E 8 kRsðsÞ þiky
E R
C¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ,
2
sðsÞlR þ k2RsðsÞ þ k2y þ lR
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2
sðsÞlR þ k2RsðsÞ þk2y þ lR
NG RSOG NG D ¼ 7sðsÞi
kRsðsÞ sðsÞiky
Fig. 1. Top: sketch of a double NG/RSOG junction. The length of RSOG region is
where kN ¼ E cosðaÞ=_vF , sinðaÞ ¼ _vF ky =E, kRsðsÞ ¼
denoted by l. Bottom: schematic diagrams of the spectrum of the quasiparticles in qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
the double junctions. lR is the RSOI strength in RSOG and E is the incident energy 2 2
ðEsðsÞlR Þ lR k2y , and a is the angle of the incident electron.
of electron from the left lead.
All the coefficients in Eqs. (3)–(5) can be determined by the
following boundary conditions of the wavefunctions at x¼0
surface [11]. We focus here in the case where the width (along
and x ¼l
y-direction) of the graphene strip, w, is much larger than the    
l(l 5w). In this case the details of the microscopic description of C2 ðxÞx ¼ þ 0 þ ¼ C1 ðxÞx ¼ 0 þ , C3 ðxÞx ¼ l þ 0 þ ¼ C2 ðxÞx ¼ l0 þ ð7Þ
the strip edges become irrelevant. After obtaining all those coefficients, the transmission coeffi-
Throughout this study we shall restrict ourselves to a single cients for the spin-up and spin-down electrons can be obtained as
particle picture and neglect electron–electron interaction effects. follows:
The low energy excitation quasiparticles propagation in the
NG/RSOG/NG double junctions can be described by the following Tm ðEÞ ¼ jt1 j2 , Tk ðEÞ ¼ jt2 j2 ð8Þ
single-particle Hamiltonian [7,30]: Then, we can perform the calculation of the conductance in the
^ ¼ _vF ! ! ! ! ! tunneling junctions for the spin-up and spin-down electrons,
H p  t þ lR YðxÞYðxlÞð t  s Þ e z ð1Þ
which is similar to that in Ref. [31]. The zero temperature
where vF E106 ms  1 is the Fermi velocity, lR the RSOI strength, conductance is given by
YðxÞ is the Heaviside step function, and the Pauli matrices Z p=2
!
t ¼ ðtx , ty Þ and !s ¼ ðsx , sy Þ describe the sublattice and the GmðkÞ ¼ G0 TmðkÞ ðEÞcos ada ð9Þ
electron spin degree of freedom, respectively. Since the transla- 0

tional symmetry holds for the parallel component of the wave where G0 ¼ 4e2 NðEÞ=h is the ballistic conductance of metallic
vector, the wave function can be written as cðx,yÞ ¼ eiky y jðxÞ, graphene and NðEÞ ¼ Ew=ðp_vF Þ denotes the number of available
where jðxÞ satisfies the following one-dimensional equation: channels for a graphene sample with width w.
! ! The spin polarization rate of the electron can be defined as
jim ðxÞ jim ðxÞ
H
jik ðxÞ ¼ E jik ðxÞ ð2Þ
P¼
Gm Gk
ð10Þ
Gm þGk
where i¼N or R denotes the two different regions, jim ðxÞ and By the expressions of the transmission coefficients of Eq. (8),
jik ðxÞ are the spinor wavefunctions of the spin-up and spin-down the conductance and the spin polarization rate can be obtained
electron, respectively. easily by the numerical calculations.
In the left lead, the incident current is spin-unpolarized; the
wavefunction can be expressed in the following form:
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi 3. Numerical results and discussion
þ þ
c1 ðxÞ ¼ ð1= 2ÞjNm ðxÞ þ ð1= 2ÞjNk ðxÞ þ r1 j 
Nm ðxÞ þr2 jNk ðxÞ ð3Þ

where r1 and r2 represent the amplitudes of quasiparticles in the We first calculate the conductance and the spin polarization
þ þ
NG region. The states jNm ðxÞ, jNk ðxÞ move in the + x direction rate as a function of the RSOI strength lR for different l. The results
(towards the NG/RSOG interface), while j Nm ðxÞ, jNk ðxÞ move in

are shown in Fig. 2. The parameter used in the calculation is
the  x direction (away from the NG/RSOG interface). Note that E¼200 meV. The RSOI strength lR can reach values up to
we just assume the amplitudes
pffiffiffi of the states moving in the + x 200 meV, which has been reported experimentally [11].
direction equate to 1= 2 for the spin-unpolarized incident The calculated results for l¼20 and 50 nm are plotted in
current in the left NG. In the right NG, the wavefunction can be Fig. 2(a) and (b), respectively. Solid lines and dashed lines
written as represent the conductance for the spin-up and spin-down
þ
c3 ðxÞ ¼ t1 jNm þ
ðxÞ þt2 jNk ðxÞ ð4Þ electrons, respectively. Dotted lines correspond to the spin
polarization rate. It is seen clearly that when no RSOI exists
where t1 and t1 represent the amplitudes of quasiparticles in the there is no difference between the conductance of the spin-up and
NG region. spin-down electrons, which means no spin polarization is
Similarly, for the middle RSOG region presented in the junctions. In the presence of the RSOI, the
þ þ conductance becomes spin-dependent and oscillates, which is
c2 ðxÞ ¼ mjRs ðxÞ þ njRs ðxÞ þpj 
Rs ðxÞ þ qjRs ðxÞ ð5Þ
similar to the case of conventional same junctions in Ref. [29]. It is
where sðsÞ ¼ þ ðÞcorresponds to the two eigenenergies, and m, n, also found that the maximum of the spin polarization rate can
p, and q represent the amplitudes of quasiparticles in the RSOG reach up to approximately 72% at a certain value of lR. As shown
region. in Fig. 2, the period of the oscillation is related to the thickness (l)
 C. Bai et al. / Physica E 43 (2010) 207–210 209

of the RSOG interlayer. For a thin RSOG film, the period is very
0.8 0.8
l=20nm large and the oscillation is less pronounced. With the increase of l,
E=200meV the oscillation of the conductance and the spin polarization rate
0.4 0.4 are enhanced largely. In particular, we point out that the
amplitudes of these oscillations, in complete contrast to their
G/G0

behavior in conventional junctions, are suppressed to zero with

P
0.0 0.0 the increase of the RSOI strength. These phenomena can be
G up understood as follows: when lR is much smaller than E, the
interferences of the quasiparticles from the two energy bands in
-0.4 Gdown -0.4
the RSOG would behave more strongly [32]. Thus the amplitudes
P of the conductance and the spin polarization rate are more
-0.8 -0.8 prominent. However, for lR ZE, there is only one propagating
0.8 0.8 transmitted wave in the lower band in the RSOG; thus the
l=50nm interferences of the quasiparticles from the lower band and upper
E=200meV band should disappear [32]. Meanwhile, the conductance of the
0.4 0.4 spin-up and the spin-down electrons equates each other. As a
result, the amplitudes of the oscillations and the spin polarization
G/G0

rate become zero. The oscillation period is not only determined by

P
0.0 0.0 the thickness (l) of the RSOG interlayer but is also related to lR
Gup and E. This can be understood very well by the three dimensional
Gdown figure as a function of lR and E as shown in Fig. 3.
-0.4 -0.4
Fig. 3 shows the energy E and the RSOI strength lR dependence
P of the conductance and the spin polarization rate. The parameter
-0.8 -0.8 used in the calculation is l¼50 nm. Besides some similar features
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 revealed in Fig. 2, such as oscillations, there are some other
features summarized here. First, when the energy E is small, the
R conductance is little influenced by the RSOI strength lR. That is to
say, the spin-dependent conductance becomes small generally,
Fig. 2. Conductance and spin polarization rate as a function of RSOI strength lR for
and its difference for the spin-up and the spin-down electron
different l. The parameter used in the calculation is E ¼ 200 meV. (a) and (b)
correspond to the results for l ¼20 and 50 nm, respectively. Solid lines and dashed decreases; thus the spin polarization becomes negligible.
lines represent the conductance for the spin-up and spin-down electrons, However, for a large energy, the variations of the spin-dependent
respectively. Dotted lines correspond to the spin polarization rate. conductance and the spin polarization become much pronounced.

0.8

0.6
EF(100meV)

EF(100meV)
0.6
G down
G up

2
0.4
0.4 2

0.2 1 0.2 1

0.0 0 0.0 0 0
1 0 1
2 2
R
(100meV) (100meV)
R

0.4
E F(100meV)

0.0
P

2
-0.4
1

-0.8
0 0
1 2
(100meV)
R

Fig. 3. Conductance and spin polarization rate as a function of lR and E, respectively. The parameter used in the calculation is l ¼50 nm.
210 C. Bai et al. / Physica E 43 (2010) 207–210
Second, it is clear to see that the regions of oscillations along with
lR are enhanced with the increase of E. These are similar to the
case of Fig. 2 and can be understood in the same way. Indeed, the
maximum and minimum of the spin-dependent conductance and
the spin polarization rate are greatly different when the energy E,
the thickness of the RSOG l, and the RSOI strength lR are different.
Therefore, the spin injection can be controlled by these three
parameters.
These parameters investigated in this study are experimentally
accessible. Indeed, the typical Fermi energy in graphene is
E¼80 meV. However, the Fermi energy E can be tuned by either
using the electric field effect or local chemical doping [1]. And
then the Fermi energy E¼200 meV and the length of the RSOG
region l ¼50 nm can be achieved in realistic experiments [1]. For
the RSOG region, unlike the spin–orbit splitting, which is usually
small compared with the Fermi energy of the electrons in the
conventional material although the strength of RSOI has been
argued to be of the order 10  11 eVm [33], the strength of RSOI
may be comparable with the Fermi energy of the electrons and
even higher than it. These differences may be understood as
follows: the RSOI in the conventional material couples the
electron momentum to the spin degree of freedom [33], while
the RSOI in graphene couples to the pseudo- and the real-spin.
Thus the parameters used in this study are realistic and the above
results are exact.
4. Summary
Based on the transfer-matrix method, the spin polarized
transport properties of the electrons through ballistic NG/RSOG/NG
double tunneling junctions have been investigated. It is observed
that the spin-dependent conductance as well as the spin polarization
rate oscillates with the RSOI strength lR, which is caused by the
quantum interference effects of quasiparticles in the RSOG inter-
layer. The oscillation features of the conductance and the spin
polarization rate can be tuned largely by the RSOI for lR 5E, while
for lR ZE they are almost independent of the RSOI. These
phenomena are essentially different from those found in conven-
tional double tunneling junctions where the tunneling conductance
and the spin polarization rate can be tuned by the RSOI for all the
energy regions. It is expected that our theoretical results can provide
an important reference to basic physics and device applications. It
also offers a direct way to measure the RSOI strength because the
tunneling conductance and the spin polarization rate can be largely
tuned by the RSOI in this geometry.
References
[1] K.S. Novoselov, A.K. Geim, S.V. Morozov, D. Jiang, Y. Zhang, S.V. Dubonos,
I.V. Grigorieva, A.A. Firsov, Science 306 (2004) 666.
[2] C.W.J. Beenakker, Rev. Mod. Phys. 80 (2008) 1337.
[3] A.H. Castro Neto, F. Guinea, N.M.R. Peres, K.S. Novoselov, A.K. Geim, Rev. Mod.
Phys. 81 (2009) 109.
[4] M.I. Katsnelson, K.S. Novoselov, A.K. Geim, Nat. Phys. 2 (2006) 620.
[5] C.X. Bai, X.D. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 76 (2007) 075430;
C.X. Bai, X.D. Zhang, Phys. Lett. A 372 (2008) 725;
C.X. Bai, Y.L. Yang, X.D. Zhang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92 (2008) 102513;
C.X. Bai, Y.L. Yang, X.D. Zhang, Phys. Rev. B 80 (2009) 235423.
[6] C.X. Bai, Y.L. Yang, X.D. Zhang, Physica E 42 (2010) 1431;
C.X. Bai, J.T. Wang, Y.L. Yang, Physica E 42 (2010) 1923.
[7] C.L. Kane, E.J. Mele, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 226801.
[8] C.L. Kane, E.J. Mele, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 146802.
[9] Y. Yao, F. Ye, X.L. Qi, S.-C. Zhang, Z. Fang, Phys. Rev. B 75 (2007) 041401.
[10] S. Trickey, Lecture Notes PASI School 2007: Electronic States and Excitation
on Nanostructures—Zacatecas, Mexico, 2007.
[11] Yu.S. Dedkov, M. Fonin, U. Rudiger, C. Laubschat, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 (2008)
107602.
[12] H. Min, J.E. Hill, N.A. Sinitsyn, B.R. Sahu, L. Kleinman, A.H. MacDonald, Phys.
Rev. B 74 (2006) 165310.
[13] D. Huertas-Hernando, F. Guinea, A. Brataas, Phys. Rev. B 74 (2006) 155246.
[14] J.C. Boettger, S.B. Trickey, Phys. Rev. B 75 (2007) 121402(R).
[15] N. Tombros, C. Josza, M. Popinciuc, H.T. Jonkman, B.J. van Wees, Nature 448
(2007) 571.
[16] C. Josza, M. Popinciuc, N. Tombros, H.T. Jonkman, B.J. van Wees, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 100 (2008) 236603.
[17] W. Han, W.H. Wang, K. Pi, Y. Li, K.M. McCreary, W. Bao, Y. Li, C.N. Lau,
R.K. Kawakami, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 (2009) 137205.
[18] S.A. Wolf, D.D. Awschalom, R.A. Buhrman, J.M. Daughton, S von Molnar,
M.L. Roukes, A.Y. Chtchelkanova, D.M. Treger, Science 294 (2001) 1488.
[19] H. Ohno, in: D.D. Awschalom, D Loss, N. Samarth (Eds.), Semiconductor
Spintronics and Quantum Computation, Springer, Berlin, 2002.
[20] S. Datta, B. Das, Appl. Phys. Lett. 56 (1990) 665.
[21] I. Zutic, J. Fabian, S. Das Sarma, Rev. Mod. Phys. 76 (2004) 323.
[22] P.R. Hammar, B.R. Bennett, M.J. Yang, M. Johnson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83 (1999)
203.
[23] S. Gardelis, C.G. Smith, C.H.W. Barnes, E.H. Linfield, D.A. Ritchie, Phys. Rev.
B 60 (1999) 7764.
[24] G. Schmidt, D Ferrand, L.W. Mollenkamp, A.T. Filip, B.J. vanWees, Phys. Rev.
B 62 (2000) 4790(R).
[25] R. Ioniciu, I.D. Amico, Phys. Rev. B 67 (2003) 041307.
[26] M. Governale, D. Boese, U. Zulicke, S. Schroll, Phys. Rev. B 65 (2002) 140403.
[27] G. Papp, F.M. Peeters, Appl. Phys. Lett. 78 (2001) 2184.
[28] Y. Jiang, M.B.A. Jalil, J. Phys., Condens. Matter 15 (2003) L31.
[29] W. Xu, Y. Guo, Phys. Lett. A 340 (2005) 281.
[30] E.I. Rashba, Phys. Rev. B 79 (2009) 161409.
[31] M. Buttiker, Phys. Rev. Lett. 57 (1986) 1761.
[32] T. Stauber, J. Schliemann, New J. Phys. 11 (2009) 115003.
[33] D. Grundler, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 (2000) 6074.