Spin filtering in all-electrical three-terminal interferometers

Abstract

Unlike the two-terminal device, in which the time-reversal invariant spin-orbit interaction alone cannot polarize the spins, such a polarization can be generated when electrons from one source reservoir flow into two (or more) separate drain reservoirs. We present analytical solutions for two examples. First, we demonstrate that the electrons transmitted through a "diamond" interferometer into two drains can be simultaneously fully spin polarized along different tunable directions, even when the two arms of the interferometer are not identical. Second, we show that a single helical molecule attached to more than one drain can induce a significant spin polarization in electrons passing through it. The average polarization remains nonzero even when the electrons outgoing into separate leads are eventually mixed incoherently into one absorbing reservoir. This may explain recent experiments on spin selectivity of certain helical-chiral molecules.