Spin-dependent transport through helical Aharonov-Bohm interferometer

Abstract

We discuss spin-dependent transport via tunneling Aharonov-Bohm interferometer formed by helical edge states tunnel-coupled to helical leads. We focus on the experimentally relevant high-temperature case as compared to the level spacing and obtain the full 4×4 matrix of transmission coefficients in the presence of magnetic impurities. We show that spin conserving and spin-flip transmission coefficients of the setup can be effectively tuned by the magnetic flux. These features are attractive due to possible applications for spintronics, magnetic field detection, and quantum computing.