Effect of spin-orbit coupling within the spin-filter layer on the tunnel magneto-resistance in spin-filter magnetic tunnel junctions

Abstract

The tunnel magneto-resistance ratio is investigated for spin-filter magnetic tunnel junctions in the presence of spin–orbit coupling within a spin-filter layer. The non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism is utilized to calculate the transmission function in the linear-response limit. The results show that a larger tunnel magneto-resistance is achieved for spin-filter magnetic tunnel junctions compared to that for conventional magnetic tunnel junctions due to the existence of a spin-filter layer. Therefore, the current findings can be introduced new routes to improve the field of spintronics.