The effect of Rashba spin-orbit interaction on the spin-polarized transport of zigzag phosphorene nanoribbons

Spin transport features of zigzag phosphorene nanoribbons (ZPNRs) are investigated in the presence of the perpendicular electric field (E-z), the exchange field (M), and Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI). To this end, the non-equilibrium Green's function method is used based on the tight-binding model, which can be described by the Landauer-Buttiker formalism. Interestingly, spin-filtering and spin-flipping are observed only for incoming up (down) spins in the presence of the exchange field with anti-parallel configuration (parallel configuration). Furthermore, changing the magnitude and direction of E-z for the parallel and anti-parallel configurations of the exchange field in the presence of RSOI can induce and control the ON/OFF state of the current, the band gap, the spin polarization, spin-flipping, and spin-filtering in the system. The obtained results could be utilized to construct novel nanostructures and also to maximize the efficiency of spintronic devices based on ZPNRs.