T P PAREEK and P BRUNO

Max-Planck-Institute fur Mikrostrukturphysik, Weinberg 2, D-06120 Halle, Germany

Abstract.

We present the study of spin and charge transport in nanostructures in the presence of spin-orbit (SO) interaction. Single band tight binding Hamiltonians for Elliot--Yafet and Rashba SO interaction are derived. Using these tight binding Hamiltonians and spin resolved Landauer--Buttiker formula, spin and charge transport is studied. Specifically numerical results are presented for a new method to perform magnetic scanning tunneling microscopy with non-magnetic tip but in the presence of Elliot--Yafet SO interaction. The spin relaxation phenomena in two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of Rashba SO interaction are studied and contrary to naive expectation, it is shown that disorder helps to reduce spin relaxation.

Keywords:  Spin-orbit interaction; two-dimensional electron gas; Landauer--Buttiker formula.

Pacs Nos.  61.16.Ch; 73.40.Gk; 75.30.Pd; 75.60.Ch