Eur. Phys. J. B 66, 509-515 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00446-8

Spin filtering through ballistic nanojunctions, the role of geometry and of spin orbit interaction

¹ INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, P.O. Box 13, 00044 Frascati, Italy
² NEST-INFM-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, 56126 Pisa, Italy
³ Dip. Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Seconda Università di Napoli, 81031 Aversa (CE), Italy

Corresponding author: ^a stefano.bellucci@lnf.infn.it

Received: 20 July 2008
Revised: 16 September 2008
Published online: 9 December 2008

Abstract

We suggest a spin filter scheme using T-stub nanometric crossjunctions patterned in two dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) in the presence of spin orbit interaction (SOI). We compare the effects of SOI arising from vertical confinement of charge carriers in the well, Rashba or α-SOI, with SOI generated by lateral confinement of the wire, β-SOI. We show that β coupling can be more effective in generating a spin polarized current as compared to α-SOI. We also compare the efficiency of the T-stub filter with the one of the X shaped cross junction.