Eur. Phys. J. B (2014) 87: 124
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2014-50076-6

Regular Article

Spin-orbit effects in carbon nanotubes – Analytical results

¹ Kirensky Institute of Physics, 660036 Krasnoyarsk, Russia
² Institute of Experimental Physics, Watsonova 47, 04001 Košice, Slovak Republic
³ Departament de Física, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
⁴ Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Russia

^a e-mail: rashid@theor.jinr.ru

Received: 3 February 2014
Received in final form: 26 March 2014
Published online: 2 June 2014

Abstract

Energy spectra and transport properties of armchair nanotubes with curvature induced spin-orbit interaction are investigated thoroughly. The spin-orbit interaction consists of two terms: the first one preserves the spin symmetry in rotating frame, while the second one breaks it. It is found that the both terms are equally important: (i) at scattering on the potential step which mimics a long-range potential in the nanotubes; (ii) at transport via nanotube quantum dots. It is shown that an armchair nanotube with the first spin-orbit term works as an ideal spin-filter, while the second term produces a parasitic inductance.