Current-Conserving Aharonov-Bohm Interferometry with Arbitrary Spin Interactions

Abstract

We propose a general scattering matrix formalism that guarantees the charge conservation at junctions between conducting arms with arbitrary spin interactions. By using our formalism, we find that the spin-flip scattering can happen even at nonmagnetic junctions if the spin eigenstates in arms are not orthogonal. We apply our formalism to the Aharonov-Bohm interferometer consisting of $n$-type semiconductor ring with both the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and the Zeeman splitting. We discuss the characteristics of the interferometer as conditional/unconditional spin switch in the weak/strong-coupling limit, respectively.