Fully spin-valley-polarized current induced by electric field in zigzag stanene and germanene nanoribbons

Abstract

We theoretically investigated the spin-dependent valleytronics in stanene and germanene nanoribbons, considering the electron–electron interaction and the external electric field without any magnetic exchange element. Our results showed that applying an electric field in these two-dimensional materials with a large intrinsic spin–orbit coupling can provide a versatile platform to create spin-valley currents by exploiting the edge magnetism at their zigzag edges. Generally, manipulating the electric field can generate a fully spin-valley-polarized current with a large magnitude even at room temperature. The rich and tunable spin and valley degrees of freedom can turn these structures into ideal candidates for spin-valley applications.