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

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.