Spin-polarized electric current in silicene nanoribbons induced by atomic adsorption

Abstract: We investigate the nonequilibrium transport properties of a silicene armchair nanoribbon with a random distribution of adsorbed atoms in apex positions. A ferromagnetic insulator grown below the nanoribbon splits spin-up and spin-down electron bands and gives rise to a spin polarization of the conductance. The conductance vanishes when the Fermi energy matches the adatom levels due to the coupling of adatom localized states with the continuum spectra of the nanoribbon. This is the well-known Fano effect, resulting in a spin-dependent antiresonance in the conductance. The different antiresonance energies of spin-up and spin-down electrons give rise to a full spin polarization of the conductance in a broad energy window. This spin-dependent Fano effect opens the possibility to using it in spintronics as a tuneable source of polarized electrons.