Asymptotic and numerical study of electron flow spin polarization in 2D waveguides of variable cross-section in the presence of magnetic field

Abstract

We consider an infinite two-dimensional waveguide that, far from the coordinate origin, coincides with a strip. The waveguide has two narrows of diameter ϵ. The narrows play the role of effective potential barriers for the longitudinal electron motion. The part of the waveguide between the narrows becomes a ‘resonator’, and there can arise conditions for electron resonant tunneling. A magnetic field in the resonator can change the basic characteristics of this phenomenon. In the presence of a magnetic field, the tunneling phenomenon is feasible for producing spin-polarized electron flows consisting of electrons with spins of the same direction. We assume that the whole domain occupied by a magnetic field is in the resonator. An electron wave function satisfies the Pauli equation in the waveguide and vanishes at its boundary. Taking ϵ as a small parameter, we derive asymptotics for the probability T(E) of an electron with energy E to pass through the resonator, for the ‘resonant energy’ Eres, where T(E) takes its maximal value and for some other resonant tunneling characteristics. The asymptotic formulas contain some unknown constants. We find them by solving several auxiliary boundary value problems (independent of ϵ) in unbounded domains. Having the asymptotics with calculated constants, we can take it as numerical approximation to the resonant tunneling characteristics. Independently, we compute numerically the scattering matrix and compare the asymptotic and numerical results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.