Spin polarized current in a junction of zigzag carbon nanotube

Abstract

We investigated spin-resolved electronic transport through a junction composed of a nonmagnetic metal electrode and a zigzag carbon nanotube by means of self-consistent Green's function method in the tight binding approximation and the unrestricted Hartree-Fock approximation. Our results show that the electric current can be spin-polarized if the coupling of the junction is weak. Further calculations on spin-spin correlation and local density of states reveal the existence of magnetic edge states in zigzag carbon nanotubes, which is responsible for the observed spin-polarized current and can be controlled by applying a gate voltage. We also studied the influence of the nearest-neighbor Coulomb interaction and the junction coupling strength on the spin-polarization of the current.