Effect of proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling in graphene mesoscopic billiards

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effect of proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling in graphene mesoscopic billiards

AU - L. R. Barbosa, Anderson

AU - G. S. Ramos, Jorge Gabriel

AU - Ferreira, Aires

N1 - © 2021 American Physical Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details

PY - 2021/2/24

Y1 - 2021/2/24

N2 - van der Waals heterostructures based on two-dimensional materials have recently become a very active topic of research in spintronics, both aiming at a fundamental description of spin dephasing processes in nanostructures and as a potential element in spin-based information processing schemes. Here, we theoretically investigate the magnetoconductance of mesoscopic devices built from graphene proximity-coupled to a high spin-orbit coupling material. Through numerically exact tight-binding simulations, we show that the interfacial breaking of inversion symmetry generates robust weak antilocalization even when the z → −z symmetric spin-orbit coupling in the quantum dot dominates over the Bychkov-Rashba interaction. Our findings are interpreted in the light of random matrix theory, which links the observed behavior of quantum interference corrections to a transition from a circular-orthogonal to circular-symplectic ensemble.

AB - van der Waals heterostructures based on two-dimensional materials have recently become a very active topic of research in spintronics, both aiming at a fundamental description of spin dephasing processes in nanostructures and as a potential element in spin-based information processing schemes. Here, we theoretically investigate the magnetoconductance of mesoscopic devices built from graphene proximity-coupled to a high spin-orbit coupling material. Through numerically exact tight-binding simulations, we show that the interfacial breaking of inversion symmetry generates robust weak antilocalization even when the z → −z symmetric spin-orbit coupling in the quantum dot dominates over the Bychkov-Rashba interaction. Our findings are interpreted in the light of random matrix theory, which links the observed behavior of quantum interference corrections to a transition from a circular-orthogonal to circular-symplectic ensemble.

KW - graphene

KW - quantum transport

KW - spin orbit coupling

KW - mesoscopic devices

KW - universal conductance fluctuations

KW - van der Waals heterostructures

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L081111

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevB.103.L081111

M3 - Letter

SN - 2469-9950

VL - 103

JO - Physical Review B

JF - Physical Review B

M1 - L081111

ER -