Influence of impurity scattering on the conductance anomalies of quantum point contacts with lateral spin-orbit coupling

We have recently shown that asymmetric lateral spin orbit coupling (LSOC) resulting from the lateral in-plane electric field of the confining potential of a side-gated quantum point contact (QPC) can be used to create a strongly spin-polarized current by purely electrical means¹ in the absence of applied magnetic field. Using the non-equilibrium Green function formalism (NEGF) analysis of a small model QPC², three ingredients were found to be essential to generate the strong spin polarization: an asymmetric lateral confinement, a LSOC induced by the lateral confining potential of the QPC, and a strong electron-electron (e-e) interaction. In this paper, NEGF is used to study how the spin polarization is affected by the presence of impurities in the central portion of the QPC. It is found that the number, location, and shape of the conductance anomalies, occurring below the first quantized conductance plateau (G₀=2e²/h), are strongly dependent on the nature (attractive or repulsive) and the locations of the impurities. We show that the maximum of the conductance spin polarization is affected by the presence of impurities. For QPCs with impurities off-center, a conductance anomaly appears below the first integer step even for the case of symmetric bias on the two side gates. These results are of practical importance if QPCs in series are to be used to fabricate all-electrical spin valves with large ON/OFF conductance ratio.