Spin-polarized current in a Rashba ring pumped by a microwave field

We report a theoretical study on generation of a spin polarized charge current with arbitrary spin polarization, including the fully-spin-polarized current. In a two-terminal mesoscopic ring device, the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) is considered as well as a microwave field applied on one of arms of the ring. It is shown that at zero external bias a spin current can be produced in addition to the usual charge current pumped by the microwave field, which is attributed to the the quantum interference effect of the RSOC induced spin precession phase. By varying the system parameters such as the microwave frequency and the RSOC strength, not only the magnitude but also the direction of the spin current can be efficiently controlled, moreover, the spin-polarization degree of the charge current can readily be tuned by these system parameters in the range [-1,1]. Since all the parameters can be controlled electrically in our study, the proposed device may shed light on the possibility of an all-electrical generation and tuning of a spin-polarized current in the field of the spintronics. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010