Conductance of a large point contact with Rashba effect

Abstract

We study the scattering of an electron of a 2DEG through a large point contact separating a region where the electrons are free and a region where the Rashba spin-orbit coupling is present. The scattering depends dramatically on the electron incidence angle showing double refraction within the Rashba region. For incidence not normal to the interface the electron spin state is not conserved. The calculated conductance exhibits an oscillating behavior as a function of spin state of the incident electrons with different spin down and spin up currents. Our model describes both a ferromagnetic semimetallic source and a simple metallic injection electrode. In the first case the electrons are injected in a pure spin state and in the second one they are unpolarized, that is in a statistical mixture of spin up and down states. In both the cases the passage through the large point contact produces spin polarized currents. Ballistic transport.