Spin-dependent conductance in nonmagnetic InGaAs asymmetric double barrier devices

Abstract

The spin dependence of the conductance of an asymmetric double-barrier InGaAs device is studied within the multiband k•p and envelope function approximations. The spin-dependent transmission probability for electrons across the structure is obtained using transfer matrices and the low bias conductance per unit area is calculated as a function of the Fermi energy (or doping) in the contacts. The possibility to obtain spin polarized currents in such devices is demonstrated, however, the resulting degree of polarization is rather small (a few percent) in the specific InGaAs structures considered here.