Using torsion to manipulate spin currents

¹ Statistical Physics Group, IJL, UMR Université de Lorraine - CNRS 7198 - 54506 Vandœuvre les Nancy, France
² Centro de Física, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas - 21827, Caracas, 1020 A, Venezuela
³ Yachay Tech, School of Physical Sciences & Nanotechnology - 100119-Urcuquí, Ecuador
⁴ Departamento de Matemática Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - 50670-901, Recife, PE, Brazil
⁵ Departamento de Física, CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba - 58051-900, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil
⁶ Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco - 52171-900 Recife, PE, Brazil

Received: 14 February 2017
Accepted: 2 April 2017

Abstract

We address the problem of quantum particles moving on a manifold characterised by the presence of torsion along a preferential axis. In fact, such a torsion may be taylored by the presence of a single screw dislocation, whose Burgers vector measures the torsion amplitude. The problem, first treated in the relativistic limit describing fermions that couple minimally to torsion, is then analysed in the Pauli limit. We show that torsion induces a geometric potential and also that it couples generically to the phase of the wave function, giving rise to the possibility of using torsion to manipulate spin currents in the case of spinor wave functions. These results emerge as an alternative strategy for using screw dislocations in the design of spintronic-based devices.