Anisotropic spin and charge transport in Rashba Hamiltonian

Abstract

We explore spin and charge transport phenomena in two dimensional electron gas in presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling connected to two ideal Ferromagnetic leads. In particular we show through a combination of analytical and numerical calculation that the spin polarization which is transported depends on the Magnetization direction of ferromagnet even if the magnetization of both FM's are parallel.Conductance is also shown to be anisotropic. These anisotrpies present in spin and charge transport are a consequence of breaking of rotational invariance due to Rashba spin-orbit interaction and are present irrespective of the Hamiltonian considered being an effective mass Hamiltonian or tight binding model Hamiltonian.