2017/11/17 by Peng Lv, Ning Dai, N. Dai +2
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Beam splitter #Condensed matter physics #Electron #Ferromagnetism #Magnetic properties of thin films #Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications #Negative refraction #Optics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research #Quantum mechanics #Refraction #Refractive index #Semiconductor #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spintronics #Splitter #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.97.235425
published as Phys. Rev. B 97, 235425 (2018) · 6 pages, 6 figures
arxiv created 2017/11/17 · openalex created_date 2017/12/04 · openalex publication_date 2018/06/18 · arxiv updated 2018/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
In analogy with light refraction at optical boundary, ballistic electrons also undergo refraction when propagating across a semiconductor junction. Establishing a negative refractive index in conventional optical materials is difficult, but the realization of negative refraction in an electronic system is conceptually straightforward, which has been verified in graphene p\text\ensuremath-n junctions in recent experiments. Here, we propose a model to realize double refraction and double focusing of electric current by a normal-conductor/hexagonal-semiconductor junction. The double refraction can be either positive or negative, depending on the junction being n\text\ensuremath-n type or p\text\ensuremath-n type. Based on the valley-dependent negative refraction, a spin splitter (valley splitter) is designed at the p\text\ensuremath-n junction system, where the spin-up and spin-down electrons are focused in different regions. These findings may be useful for the engineering of double lenses in electronic systems and have an underlying application of spin splitter in spintronics.