Generation and manipulation of pure spin current in a conducting loop coupled to an Aharonov–Bohm ring

Abstract

In this work we put forward a new prescription for the generation and manipulation of non-decaying pure spin current (SC) in a Rashba spin–orbit (SO) coupled conducting loop which is attached to an Aharonov–Bohm (AB) ring. In presence of a single link between the rings, a SC is established in the flux-free ring, without accompanying any charge current (CC). The magnitude and direction of this SC are controlled by means of the AB flux, without tuning the SO coupling, which is the central aspect of our study. Employing a tight-binding framework we describe the two-ring quantum system, where the effect of magnetic flux is incorporated through Peierls phase factor. The specific roles of AB flux, SO coupling and the connectivity among the rings are critically investigated which yield several non-trivial signatures in energy band spectrum and pure SC. Along with SC, the phenomenon of flux-driven CC is also discussed, and at the end, different other effects like electron filling, system size and disorder are analyzed to make the present communication a self contained one. Our detailed investigation may provide some key aspects of designing efficient spintronic devices where SC can be guided in an other way.