Effects of spin-dependent tunneling in III-V semiconductor heterostructures

摘要

Theory of spin-dependent tunneling of conduction electrons in III-V heterostructures has been developed. The dependence of the tunneling process on the electron spin orientation leads to (i) spin polarization of the carriers transmitted through the barrier under oblique incidence and (ii) generation of an in-plane electric current under tunneling of spin-polarized carriers. The effects become stronger in double-barrier structures where the tunneling via resonant spin-split levels can be controlled by applying the gate voltage.