Spin-electron beam splitters based on magnetic barrier nanostructures

Abstract

With the help of stationary phase method, we investigate the Goos-Hänchen (GH) effect of electrons in nanostructures consisting of realistic magnetic barriers (MB) created by lithographic patterning of ferromagnetic (FM) or superconducting films. Due to intrinsic symmetry, only nanostructures with symmetric magnetic field possess a considerable spin-dependent GH effect, and GH shifts of transmitted spin beams are found to depend upon the incident angle and the incident energy of electrons as well as the size and position of the FM stripe. These interesting properties may provide an effective scheme to realize spin injection into semiconductor and also give rise to a type of spin beam splitters based on MB nanostructures.