Modulation of antichiral edge states in zigzag honeycomb nanoribbons by side potentials

Abstract

AbstractThe antichiral edge states induced by the modified Haldane model have been predicted in the previous studies. In this study, other types of antichiral edge states are proposed by applying the side potentials composed of a potential field, staggered electric field, and exchange field along the boundaries of zigzag honeycomb nanoribbons (zHNRs). Their corresponding transport properties are investigated. The results show that the side potentials can lift the spin degeneracy of the edge modes, inducing five types of antichiral edge states. By calculating the spin-dependent energies in K’ and K valleys of the edge modes, an interpretation for generating antichiral edge states is proposed. In addition, the spin/charge switcher in the three-terminal device consisting of zHNRs is developed based on the induced edge states. We believe that these results can be used in the design of future spintronic devices.