Influence of spin configuration on the transport properties of transition metal oxide nanostructures

We investigate the influence of spin configuration on the transport properties of transition metal oxide nanostructures (TMOns). As a first step, to describe the system, we adopted the Kondo lattice-like Hamiltonian with Coulomb repulsion, U. To calculate the corresponding conductance/current through the TMOns, upon application of a small external voltage/field, we use the Keldysh Green function technique. We found that the conductance of the TMOns strongly depends on the localized spins configuration of the transition metal (TM) ions. In particular, the conductance increases when the angle between the configurations of the nearest neighbour spins changes, corresponding to a change from an anti-ferromagnetic state to a spin-spiral state. Previously, we found that the spin configuration of the TMOns strongly depends on the number of itinerant electrons. From these results, we can infer that it would be possible to alter the conductance of TMOns by changing the spin configuration. The TMOns spin configuration can, in turn, be controlled/altered by applying an external voltage/field, which would change the number of itinerant electrons.