Spin-valley decoupling in magnetic silicene superlattices

Abstract

We investigated the spin and valley transport properties of Dirac electrons in magnetic silicene superlattices. The contribution and competition from spin–orbit coupling, Landau levels, the resonance and the topological nature are discussed. Local and non-local modes are found. Landau levels depict the spin-valley coupling cyclotron trajectories of Dirac electrons, which can well explain the main properties of transport. Further, resonance, which is from the scattering and can be described by the oscillating length lB, releases the coupling of spin and valley, leading to a pure spin or valley filtering effect. It is found that electrical conductance strongly relies on the artificial mass , which can be controlled by electric gating. The topological nature may be a possible reason for understanding the spin-dependent behaviors of Dirac electrons. The results obtained not only reveal the physical maps of Dirac electrons transport in the magnetic silicene superlattices, but have prospects in designing nano-devices, like filters and heterostructures.