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arXiv:cond-mat/0012192 · Physical review. B, Condensed matter

Spin-dependent transport in a Luttinger liquid

Leon Balents, Reinhold Egger

Published Jun 20, 2001• 54 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We develop a detailed theory for spin transport in a one-dimensional quantum wire described by Luttinger-liquid theory. A hydrodynamic description of the quantum wire is supplemented by boundary conditions, taking into account the exchange coupling between the magnetization of ferromagnetic reservoirs and the boundary magnetization in the wire. Spin-charge separation is shown to imply drastic and qualitative consequences for spin-dependent transport. In particular, the spin accumulation effect is quenched except for fine-tuned parameter regimes. We propose several feasible setups involving an external magnetic field to detect this phenomenon in transport experiments on single-wall carbon nanotubes. In addition, electron-electron backscattering processes, which do not have an important effect on thermodynamic properties or charge transport, are shown to modify spin-dependent transport through long quantum wires in a crucial way.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.64.035310

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We develop a detailed theory for spin transport in a one-dimensional quantum wire described by Luttinger-liquid theory. A hydrodynamic description of the quantum wire is supplemented by boundary conditions, taking into account the exchange coupling between the magnetization of ferromagnetic reservoirs and the boundary magnetization in the wire. Spin-charge separation is shown to imply drastic and qualitative consequences for spin-dependent transport. In particular, the spin accumulation effect is quenched except for fine-tuned parameter regimes. We propose several feasible setups involving an external magnetic field to detect this phenomenon in transport experiments on single-wall carbon nanotubes. In addition, electron-electron backscattering processes, which do not have an important effect on thermodynamic properties or charge transport, are shown to modify spin-dependent transport through long quantum wires in a crucial way.
We theoretically investigate transport in a spin-incoherent one-dimensional electron system, which may be realized in quantum wires at low-electron density and finite temperature. Both the pure and disordered cases are considered, both in finite wires and in the thermodynamic limit. The effect of Fermi-liquid leads attached to the finite-length system is also addressed. In the infinite system, we find a phase diagram identical to that obtained for a spinless Luttinger liquid, provided we make the identification g=2gcg=2{g}_{c}g=2gc​, where ggg is the interaction parameter in a spinless Luttinger liquid and gc{g}_{c}gc​ is the interaction parameter of the charge sector of a Luttinger-liquid theory for electrons with spin. For a finite-length wire attached to Fermi-liquid leads, the transport depends on the details of the disorder in the wire. A simple picture for the crossover from the spin-incoherent regime to the spin-coherent regime as the temperature is varied is also discussed, as well as some physical implications.
We study the spin-dependent scattering of charge carriers in a magnetized one dimensional Luttinger liquid from a localized nonhomogeneous magnetic field, which might be brought about by the stray field of magnetic tip near a uniform liquid, or by a transverse domain wall (DW) between two oppositely magnetized liquids. From a renormalization group treatment of the electron interactions we deduce scaling equations for the transmission and reflection amplitudes as the bandwidth is progressively reduced to an energy scale set by the temperature. The repulsive interactions dictate two possible zero temperature insulator fixed points: one in which electrons are reflected in the same spin channel and another where the electron spin is reversed upon reflection. In the latter case, a finite spin current emerges in the absence of a charge current at zero temperature and the Friedel oscillations form a transverse spiraling spin density. Adding a purely potential scattering term has no effect on the fixed points of a uniformly magnetized liquid. For a DW we find that the introduction of potential scattering stabilizes the spin-flip insulator phase even if the single-particle spin-flip scattering produced by the DW is arbitrarily weak. The potential can be induced externally, e.g., by a local gate voltage or a constriction, providing a means for controlling the transport properties of the wire.
In a first part, I study the electronic transport through a one-dimensional, finite-length quantum wire of correlated electrons (Luttinger liquid) coupled at arbitrary position via tunnel barriers to two semi-infinite, one-dimensional as well as stripe-like (two-dimensional) leads, thereby bringing theory closer towards systems resembling setups realized in experiments. In particular, I compute the temperature dependence of the linear conductance of a system without bulk impurities. The appearance of new temperature scales introduced by the lengths of the overhanging parts of the leads and the wire implies a conductance function which is much more complex than the simple power-law behavior obtained in earlier approaches. My results can be used to optimize the experimental setups designed for a verification of Luttinger-liquid scaling. In a second part, I suggest a setup to study Luttinger-liquid behavior in quantum wires which allows to determine the Luttinger-liquid parameter from two independent measurements: transport through a quantum dot embedded in the wire and the charge on the dot. To this end, I identified novel Luttinger-liquid power-laws in the charging of the dot. In a more technical part, I extended an adaption of the functional renormalization group such that it can be used on correlated electrons in complex geometries like the wire-lead structures described above and arbitrary dot structures coupled to Luttinger-liquid leads.
Luttinger-liquid behavior of one-dimensional correlated electron systems is characterized by power-law scaling of a variety of physical observables with exponents determined by a single interaction dependent parameter KKK. We suggest a setup to study Luttinger-liquid behavior in quantum wires which allows us to determine KKK from two independent measurements: transport through a quantum dot embedded in the wire and the charge on the dot. Consistency of the two KKK's for a single probe would provide strong experimental evidence for the Luttinger-liquid paradigm.
We develop the theory of hydrodynamic fluctuations for one-dimensional quantum liquids. At low temperatures the relaxation of interacting electrons in a single-channel wire separates into two classes: equilibration, which changes the numbers of right and left movers through backscattering and is exponentially slow, and thermalization, which redistributes energy and momentum at a fixed number of movers at a power-law rate. This separation of time scales gives the electron liquid a two-fluid description analogous to superfluid 4^44He, with the zero mode of the Luttinger liquid as the superfluid component and the gas of thermal excitations as the normal component. Using Onsager reciprocity and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, we add Langevin fluxes to the two-fluid hydrodynamic equations, including a mutual-friction noise generated by rare backscattering events that has no counterpart in helium. We apply the theory to Coulomb-coupled quantum wires and calculate the dynamic structure factors, which contain a second-sound peak next to the plasmon doublet; the Coulomb drag resistivity, where intrawire equilibration acts as a bottleneck and turns the hydrodynamic drag into an activated temperature dependence; and the near-field heat transfer between the wires. Mode frequencies, spectral weights, linewidths, and the crossover scales of the transport coefficients are expressed through the thermodynamic properties of the liquid and a few dissipative coefficients, providing spectroscopic and transport probes of two-fluid behavior in one-dimensional quantum systems.
We study the transport properties of long quantum wires by generalizing the Luttinger liquid approach to allow for the finite lifetime of the bosonic excitations. Our theory accounts for long-range disorder and strong electron interactions, both of which are common features of experiments with quantum wires. We obtain the electrical and thermal resistances and thermoelectric properties of such quantum wires and find a strong deviation from perfect conductance quantization. We cast our results in terms of the thermal conductivity and bulk viscosity of the electron liquid and give the temperature scale above which the transport can be described by classical hydrodynamics.