Negative Tunneling Magneto-Resistance in Quantum Wires with Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

Seungju Han, Llorens Serra, Mahn-Soo Choi

Published 2014-09-23Version 1

We consider a two-dimensional double-barrier magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) of the FM/I/QW(FM+SO)/I/N structure, where FM, I and QW(FM+SO) stand for a ferromagnet, an insulator and a quantum wire (QW) with both magnetic ordering and Rashba spin-orbit (SOC), respectively. The TMR exhibits strong anisotropy and switches sign as the polarization direction varies relative to the QW axis, due to interplay among the one-dimensionality, the magnetic ordering, and the strong SOC of the QW. The relevance of the model to the oxide interface between LaAlO$_3$ and SrTiO$_3$ is also discussed.