Krishna Chetry, University of Cincinnati
Abstract
Recently, our group at UC, led by Philippe Debray (Physics) and Marc Cahay (ECE) has shown for the first time that a 1-dimensional (1-D) nanoscale quantum point contact – a short quantum wire - made from the low band-gap semiconductor InAs with large intrinsic spin orbit coupling (SOC) can produce spin-polarized current when the confining potential of the QPC is made asymmetric by gate bias voltages. It was found that it requires a highly asymmetric lateral confinement, a lateral spin-orbit coupling (LSOC) due to lateral confining potential, and a strong electron-electron (e-e) interaction to generate strong spin polarization. These ingredients can be controlled and optimized by exploring different semiconductor heterostructures and QPC dimensions to achieve high spin polarization.