Aharonov-Bohm physics with spin. II. Spin-flip effects in two-dimensional ballistic systems

We study spin effects in the magnetoconductance of ballistic mesoscopic systems subject to inhomogeneous magnetic fields. We present a numerical approach to the spin-dependent Landauer conductance which generalizes recursive Green-function techniques to the case with spin. Based on this method we address spin-flip effects in quantum transport of spin-polarized and spin-unpolarized electrons through quantum wires and various two-dimensional Aharonov-Bohm geometries. In particular, we investigate the range of validity of a spin-switch mechanism recently found which allows for controlling spins indirectly via Aharonov-Bohm fluxes. Our numerical results are compared to a transfer-matrix model for one-dimensional ring structures presented in the first paper [Hentschel et al., Phys. Rev. B, preceding paper, Phys. Rev. B 69, 155326 (2004)] of this series.