Isotropic all-electric spin analyzer based on a quantum ring with spin-orbit couplings

Abstract

Isotropic spin analysis is a key step in spintronics and could be useful in quantum information, which usually requires light as an essential component. It has not yet been realized in a solid-state device. Here, we propose an isotropic all electrical spin analyzer designed from a quantum ring with spin-orbit couplings by analytically and numerically modeling how the charge transmission rate depends on the polarization of the incident spin. The spin transport features are also demonstrated to be robust against ring structure defects, disorder, and a bias between the two leads at finite temperature in the nanoscale ring. Similar to the light polarizer/analyzer, this interesting two-dimensional electron system can be designed as a spin filter, spin polarizer, and a general spin analyzer with high resolution by simply tuning the spin-orbit couplings, which paves the way for realizing the tunable and integrable spintronics devices.