Spin-polarized transport in zigzag graphene nanoribbons with Rashba spin–orbit interaction

Abstract

We have calculated spin-dependent conductance in zigzag graphene nanoribbons, attached to two leads, in the presence of Rashba spin−orbit interaction, based on the green function method. A tight binding model including Rashba spin-orbit interaction is used. It is shown that elements of conductance matrix crucially depend on the width and the length of the graphene nanoribbon for strong Rashba spin−orbit interaction.