Coherent quantum transport through ferromagnetic graphene structures: Effects of Rashba spin–orbit coupling

Abstract

Abstract In a system consisting of a monolayer ferromagnetic graphene structure, based on the scattering matrix approach, we study the spin-dependent transmission coefficients, group delay time, magnetoresistance and giant magnetoresistance of spin-polarized electron tunneling through the Rashba barrier in single-layer graphene. The results show that Rashba spin–orbit coupling can cause a natural spin filter mechanism; it thus has a significant role in controlling the transmission probabilities. In addition, the quantum transport properties of our system depend critically on the structural parameters. The incidence angle, energy, barrier number, and exchange energies can strongly control the transport properties of multi-layer graphene. It is predicted that controlling spin-dependent transport in single layer graphene results can develop the well-known spintronics.