Tunnel anisotropic magnetoresistance in graphene with Rashba spin-orbit interaction.

Ballistic transport in a graphene-based normal/ferromagnetic barrier/normal junction in the presence of Rashba-type spin-orbit interaction (RSOI) is investigated by the non-equilibrium Green's function approach. It is found that due to the interplay between ferromagnetic exchange coupling and RSOI, the energy dispersion in the ferromagnetic barrier depends on the magnetization direction. The conductance changes by varying the magnetization direction, resulting in a tunnel anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR). The predicted TAMR effect oscillates with the RSOI strength or on-site energy, which is efficiently controllable by the gate voltage, making this junction very promising in spintronics applications.