Electronic properties of graphene and graphene nanoribbons with ‘pseudo-Rashba’ spin-orbit coupling

2009/06/30 by Tobias Stauber, John Schliemann · 1 citation
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Graphene research and applications #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/11/11/115003

published as New J. Phys. 11, 115003 (2009) · 18 pages, 9 figures; section on nanoribbons added

arxiv created 2009/10/07 · openalex publication_date 2009/11/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We discuss the electronic properties of graphene and graphene nanoribbons including 'pseudo-Rashba' spin–orbit coupling. After summarizing the bulk properties of massless and massive Dirac particles, we first analyze the scattering behavior close to an infinite mass and zigzag boundary. For low energies, we observe strong deviations from the usual spin-conserving behavior at high energies such as reflection acting as a spin polarizer or switch. This results in spin polarization along the direction of the boundary due to the appearance of evanescent modes in the case of non-equilibrium or when there is no coherence between the two one-particle branches. We then discuss the spin and density distribution of graphene nanoribbons.

Citations

• Gate-tunable graphene spin valve
• Magnetoresistance of graphene-based spin valves
• Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Graphene
• Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films
• Intrinsic and Rashba spin-orbit interactions in graphene sheets
• Spin-orbit coupling in curved graphene, fullerenes, nanotubes, and nanotube caps
• Electron-Hole Asymmetry of Spin Injection and Transport in Single-Layer Graphene
• The electronic properties of graphene

Cited by

• Spin-resolved scattering through spin-orbit nanostructures in graphene