Dual spin filter effect in a zigzag graphene nanoribbon

Abstract

By first principle calculations, a dual spin filter effect under finite bias voltages is demonstrated in an antiferromagnetic junction of symmetric zigzag graphene nanoribbon (ZGNR). Unlike conventional spin filter devices using half metallic materials, the up- and down-spin electrons are unidirectionally filtered in the counter direction of the bias voltage, making the junction a dual spin filter. On the contrary, asymmetric ZGNRs do not exhibit such a spin filter effect. By analyzing Wannier functions and a tight-binding model, we clarify that an interplay between the spin polarized band structure of $\pi$ and $\pi^*$ states near the Fermi level and decoupling of the interband hopping of the two states, arising from the symmetry of the wave functions, plays a crucial role in the effect.