We investigate theoretically the spin transport in two-terminal mesoscopic rings in the presence of both the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI) and the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (DSOI). We find that the interplay between the RSOI and DSOI breaks the original cylindric symmetry of mesoscopic ring and consequently leads to the anisotropic spin transport, i.e., the conductance is sensitive to the positions of the incoming and outgoing leads. The anisotropic spin transport can survive even in the presence of disorder caused by impurity elastic scattering in a realistic system.
The Rashba-Dresselhaus effect is the splitting of doubly degenerate band extrema in semiconductors, accompanied by the emergence of counter-rotating spin textures and spin-momentum locking. Here we investigate how this effect is modified by lattice vibrations. We show that, in centrosymmetric non-magnetic crystals, for which a bulk Rashba-Dresselhaus effect is symmetry-forbidden, electron-phonon interactions can induce a phonon-assisted, dynamic Rashba-Dresselhaus spin splitting in the presence of an out-of-equilibrium phonon population. In particular, we show how Rashba, Dresselhaus, or Weyl …
A major impediment towards realizing technologies based on the emerging principles of antiferromagnetic spintronics is the shortage of suitable materials. In this paper, we propose a design of polar|nonpolar heterostructures of perovskite oxides, where a single unit cell of SrIrO3 is sandwiched between a thin film of LaAlO3 and a substrate of SrTiO3. Our calculations within the framework of density-functional theory + Hubbard U + spin-orbit coupling reveal a two-dimensional conducting layer with electron and hole pockets at the interface, exhibiting a strong anisotropic Rashba-Dresselhaus effe…
We have investigated the complex two-dimensional electron system with unequal Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. The spin polarizations are obtained in a wide range of magnetic fields. It is shown that such a system is hard to be magnetized. We also find that the resonant charge and spin Hall conductances occurs simultaneously at a certain magnetic field, at which two (nearly) degenerate Landau levels are filled partly. The resonant Hall effects are universal in this type of semiconductor materials, and could have potential applica…
We have developed a method to systematically compute the form of Rashba- and Dresselhaus-like contributions to the spin Hamiltonian of heterostructures to an arbitrary order in the wavevector k. This is achieved by using the double group representations to construct general symmetry-allowed Hamiltonians with full spin-orbit effects within the tight-binding formalism. We have computed full-zone spin Hamiltonians for [001]-, [110]- and [111]-grown zinc blende heterostructures (D_{2d},C_{4v},C_{2v},C_{3v} point group symmetries), which are commonly used in spintronics. After an expansion of the H…
We consider a finite range ac-biased front gate acting upon a quantum channel with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction effects. The ac-biased gate, giving rise to a dynamical Rashba coupling, causes spin-resolved coherent resonant inelastic scattering. A pure dc spin current is subsequently generated without accompanying charge current. In the presence of Dresselhaus effect, the dc spin current is suppressed in the low kinetic energy regime but is assisted in the high kinetic energy regime.
Determination of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction strengths in a particular sample remains a challenge even today. In this article we investigate the possibilities of measuring the absolute values of these interaction strengths by calculating persistent charge and spin currents in a mesoscopic ring. Our numerical results can be verified experimentally.
The spin-galvanic effect and the circular photogalvanic effect induced by terahertz radiation are applied to determine the relative strengths of Rashba and Dresselhaus band spin-splitting in (001)-grown GaAs and InAs based two dimensional electron systems. We observed that shifting the $δ$-doping plane from one side of the quantum well to the other results in a change of sign of the photocurrent caused by Rashba spin-splitting while the sign of the Dresselhaus term induced photocurrent remains. The measurements give the necessary feedback for technologists looking for structures with equal Ras…
We address the electromagnetic properties of two-dimensional electron gas confined by a dielectric environment in the presence of both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. It is demonstrated that off-diagonal components of the conductivity tensor resulting from a delicate interplay between Rashba and Dresselhaus couplings lead to the hybridization of transverse electric and transverse magnetic surface electromagnetic modes localized at the interface. We show that the characteristics of these hybrid surface waves can be controlled by additional intense external off-resonant coherent …
Electron spin precession in nonuniform Rashba-Dresselhaus two-dimensional electron systems along arbitrary continuous paths is investigated. We derive an analytical formula to describe the spin vectors (expectation values of the injected spin) in such conditions using a contour-integral method. The obtained formalism is capable of dealing with the nonuniformity of the Rashba spin-orbit field due to the inherent random distribution of the ionized dopants, and can be applied to curved one-dimensional quantum wires. Interesting examples are given, and the modification to the spin precession patte…
We calculate the longitudinal and spin-Hall conductances in four-lead bridges with Rashba - Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. Numerical results are obtained both within Landauer-Buttiker formalism and by the direct evaluation of the Kubo formula. The microscopic Hamiltonian is obtained in the tight-binding approximation in terms of the neareast-neighbor hopping integral $t$, the Rashba spin-orbit coupling $V_R$, the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling $V_D$ and an Anderson-like, on-site disorder energy strength $W$. We reconfirm that below a critical disorder threshold, the spin-Hall effect is …
The Rashba and Dresselhaus types of spin-orbit coupling are two typical linear coupling forms. We establish the fundamental physics of a model which can be viewed as the double version of the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling. This model describes the low energy physics of a class of massless Dirac fermions in spin-orbit systems. The physical properties of the massless Dirac fermions are determined by the mathematical relations of spin-orbit coefficients. For equal Rashba and Dresselhauss coupling constants, k-independent eigenspinors and a persistent spin helix combined with massless…
We establish an exact analytical treatment for the determination of the strengths of the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions in a single sample by measuring persistent spin current. A hidden symmetry is exploited in the Hamiltonian to show that the spin current vanishes when the strength of the Dresselhaus interaction becomes equal to the strength of the Rashba term. The results are sustained even in the presence of disorder and thus an experiment in this regard will be challenging.
The paper reviews the interplay of Rashba/Dresselhaus spin splittings in various two dimensional systems made of III-V, wurtzite and SiGe. We discuss the symmetry aspects of the linear and cubic in electron wavevector spin splitting in heterostructures prepared on (001)-, (110)-, (111)-, (113)-, (112)-, and (013)-oriented substrates and address the requirements for suppression of spin relaxation and realization of the persistent spin helix state. In experimental part of the paper we overview experimental results on the interplay of Rashba/Dresselhaus spin splittings probed by photogalvanic spe…
We present calculations of the frequency-dependent spin susceptibility tensor of a two-dimensional electron gas with competing Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction. It is shown that the interplay between both types of spin-orbit coupling gives rise to an anisotropic spectral behavior of the spin density response function which is significantly different from that of vanishing Rashba or Dresselhaus case. Strong resonances are developed in the spin susceptibility as a consequence of the angular anisotropy of the energy spin-splitting. This characteristic optical modulable response may b…
The DC charge current, field-induced spin polarization and spin textures are studied in the 1D gated superlattice with both fixed and varying Rashba and Dresselhaus contributions to spin-orbit coupling. It is found that a spin component with zero mean value can demonstrate non-vanishing field-induced spin texture in a superlattice cell which can be probed experimentally, with the highest amplitudes achievable in an interval of comparable Rashba and Dresselhaus terms. The consideration of the finite parameters for collision rate and temperature is found to be non-destructive for the calculated …
New exact and asymptotical results for the one particle Green's function of 2D electrons with combined Rashba - Dresselhaus spin - orbit interaction in the presence of in-plane uniform magnetic field are presented. A special case that allows an exact analytical solution is also highlighted. To demonstrate the advantages of our approach we apply the obtained Green's function to calculation of electron density and magnetization
We consider the magnetic response of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling to a microwave excitation. We generalize the results of [A. Shnirman and I. Martin, Europhys. Lett. 78, 27001 (2007).], where pure Rashba coupling was studied. We observe that the microwave with the in-plane electric field and the out-of-plane magnetic field creates an out-of-plane spin polarization. The effect is more prominent in clean systems with resolved spin-orbit-split subbands. Considered as response to the microwave magnetic field, the spin-orbit contribution…
The effects of structural (Rashba) and bulk (Dresselhaus) spin-orbit interaction terms on the low-field magnetoresistance are investigated in high-quality two dimensional systems. The weak localization theory accounting for both of these terms valid in the whole range of magnetic fields is proposed. The suppresion of antilocalization correction as Rashba and Dresselhaus terms strengths approach each other is demonstrated. The effect of cubic in the wavevector spin-splitting term is analyzed.
The spin-orbit splitting of the electron levels in a two-dimensional quantum dot in a perpendicular magnetic field is studied. It is shown that at the point of an accidental degeneracy of the two lowest levels above the ground state the Rashba spin-orbit coupling leads to a level anticrossing and to mixing of spin-up and spin-down states, whereas there is no mixing of these levels due to the Dresselhaus term. We calculate the relaxation and decoherence times of the three lowest levels due to phonons. We find that the spin relaxation rate as a function of a magnetic field exhibits a cusp-like s…
We have identified two useful exact properties of the perturbative expansion for the case of a two-dimensional electron liquid with Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction and in the absence of magnetic field. The results allow us to draw interesting conclusions regarding the dependence of the exchange and correlation energy and of the quasiparticle properties on the strength of the spin-orbit coupling which are valid to all orders in the electron-electron interaction.
We investigate the transport properties of narrow quantum wires realized in disordered two-dimensional electron gases in the presence of k-linear Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (SOI), and an applied in-plane magnetic field. Building on previous work [Scheid, et al., PRL 101, 266401 (2008)], we find that in addition to the conductance, the universal conductance fluctuations also feature anisotropy with respect to the magnetic field direction. This anisotropy can be explained solely from the symmetries exhibited by the Hamiltonian as well as the relative strengths of the Rashba an…
Rashba and linear Dresselhaus interactions are believed to yield dominant contribution to the spin splitting of two-dimensional electrons in the quantum wells based on A$_3$B$_5$ compounds. We show that the interfacial spin-orbit interaction significantly renormalizes the value of the corresponding Rashba ($α_{SIA}$) and Dresselhaus ($α_{BIA}$) parameters. For this purpose, we solve the effective mass equation in a quantum well supplemented by the original boundary conditions on the atomically sharp interfaces and calculate the interfacial contributions to $α_{SIA}$ and $α_{BIA}$. Our results …
We investigate the spin-current linear response conductivity tensor to an electric field in a paramagnetic two dimensonal electron gas with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling in the weak scattering regime. In the ususal case where both spin-orbit-split bands are occupied, we find that the spin-Hall conductivity depends only on the sign of the difference in magnitude of the Rashba and Dresselhaus coupling strengths except within a narrow window where both coupling strengths are equal. We also find a new effect in which a spin current is generated in the direction of the driving fie…
We theoretically investigate the spin-dependent Seebeck effect in an Aharonov-Bohm mesoscopic ring in the presence of both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions under magnetic flux perpendicular to the ring. We apply the Green's function method to calculate the spin Seebeck coefficient employing the tight-binding Hamiltonian. It is found that the spin Seebeck coefficient is proportional to the slope of the energy-dependent transmission coefficients. We study the strong dependence of spin Seebeck coefficient on the Fermi energy, magnetic flux, strength of spin-orbit coupling, and tempe…
We present a general model with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings to describe a two-dimensional noncentrosymmetric superconductor. The combined effects of the two spin-orbit couplings on superconductivity are investigated in the framework of mean-field theory. We find that the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings result in similar effects on superconductivity if they are present solely in the system. Mixing of spin-singlet and triplet pairings in electron band is induced under the assumption that each quasiparticle band is p-wave paired. If the two types of spin-orbit cou…
In the presence of Rashba-Dresselhaus coupling, strong spin-orbit interactions in liquid crystal optical cavities result in a distinctive spin-split entangled dispersion. Spin coherence between such modes give rise to an optical persistent-spin-helix. In this letter, we introduce optical gain in such a system, by dispersing a molecular dye in a liquid-crystal microcavity. We demonstrate both lasing in the Rashba-Dresselhaus regime and the emergence of an optical persistent spin helix.
The asymmetric spin-orbit (SO) interactions play a crucial role in realizing topological phases in noncentrosymmetric superconductor (NCS).We investigate the edge states and the vortex core states in s-wave NCS with Rashba and Dresselhaus (110) SO couplings by both numerical and analytical methods. In particular, we demonstrate that there exists a novel semimetal phase characterized by the flat Andreev bound states in the phase diagram of the s-wave Dresselhaus NCS which supports the emergence of Majorana fermion (MF). The flat dispersion implies a peak in the density of states which has a cle…
Electronic transport in a one-dimensional mesoscopic ring threaded by a magnetic flux is studied in presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. A completely analytical technique within a tight-binding formalism unveils the spin-split bands in presence of the spin-orbit interactions and leads to a method of determining the strength of the Dresselhaus interaction. In addition to this, the persistent currents for ordered and disordered rings have been investigated numerically. It is observed that, the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, in general, leads to an enhanced amplitu…
We derive an effective Hamiltonian for a (001)-confined quasi-two-dimensional hole gas in a strained zincblende semiconductor heterostructure including both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling. In the presence of uniaxial strain along the $\left\langle110\right\rangle$ axes, we find a conserved spin quantity in the vicinity of the Fermi contours in the lowest valence subband. In contrast to previous works, this quantity meets realistic requirements for the Luttinger parameters. For more restrictive conditions, we even find a conserved spin quantity for vanishing strain, restricted to th…
We propose a method to determine the relative strength of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction from transport measurements without the need of fitting parameters. To this end, we make use of the conductance anisotropy in narrow quantum wires with respect to the directions of an in-plane magnetic field, the quantum wire and the crystal orientation. We support our proposal by numerical calculations of the conductance of quantum wires based on the Landauer formalism which show the applicability of the method to a wide range of parameters.
The spin splitting of conduction band electrons in inversion-asymmetric InGaAs/InP quantum wells is studied by Shubnikov-de Haas measurements combining the analysis of beating patterns and coincidence measurements in doubly tilted magnetic fields. The method allows us to determine the absolute values of the Rashba and linear Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction coefficients, their relative sign and the full Landé g-tensor. This is achieved by analyzing the anisotropy of the beat node positions with respect to both polar and azimuthal angles between the magnetic field direction and the quantum we…
We propose a simple method to detect the relative strength of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-obit interactions in quantum wells (QWs) without relying on the directional-dependent physical quantities. This method utilize the asymmetry of critical gate voltages that leading to the remarkable signals of SU(2) symmetry, which happens to reflect the intrinsic structure inversion asymmetry of the QW. We support our proposal by the numerical calculation of in-plane relaxation times based on the self-consistent eight-band Kane model. We find that the two different critical gate voltages leading to the ma…
We theoretically consider spin pumping in a junction between a ferromagnetic insulator (FI) and a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in which the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions coexist. Using second-order perturbation theory, we derive an increase in linewidth in the case of an interfacial exchange coupling in a ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) experiment. We clarify how the enhancement of Gilbert damping depends on the resonant frequency and spin orientation of the FI. We show that this setup of an FMR experiment can provide information on the spin texture of 2DEG at the Fermi s…
We study a two-dimensional electron system in the presence of both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions in a perpendicular magnetic field. Defining two suitable boson operators and using the unitary transformations we are able to obtain the exact Landau levels in the range of all the parameters. When the strengths of the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions are equal, a new analytical solution for the vanishing Zeeman energy is found, where the orbital and spin wave functions of electron are separated. It is also shown that in this case the Zeeman and spin-orbit splittings …
We discuss the combined effect of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions in polygonal loops formed by quantum wires, when the electron are injected in a node and collected at the opposite one. The conditions that allow perfect localization are found. Furthermore, we investigate the suppression of the Al'tshuler--Aronov--Spivak oscillations that appear, in presence of a magnetic flux, when the electrons are injected and collected at the same node. Finally, we point out that a recent realization of a ballistic spin interferometer can be used to obtain a reliable estimate of the magnitude…
We solve analytically the energy eigenvalue problem of narrow semiconductor quantum rings with a general spin-orbit term that includes as a special case the Rashba and Dresselhaus interactions acting simultaneously. The eigenstates and eigenenergies of the system are found for arbitrary values of the spin-orbit coupling constants without making use of approximations. The general eigenstates are expressed as products of a scalar Mathieu function and a spinor factor which is periodic or pseudo-periodic on the ring. Our general solution reduces to the previously found solutions for particular com…
The spin-Hall effect in the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) generates symmetric out-of-plane spin Sz accumulation about the current axis in the absence of external magnetic field. Here we employ the real space Landauer-Keldysh formalism [B. K. Nikolic et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 046601 (2005); Phys. Rev. B 73, 075303 (2006)] by considering a four-terminal setup to investigate the circumstances in which this symmetry is broken. For the absence of Dresselhaus interaction, starting from the applied out-of-plane B corresponding to Zeeman splitting energy 0 - 0.5 times the Rashba hopping energ…
A persistent spin helix (PSH) in spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional electron systems was recently predicted to exist in two cases: [001] quantum wells (QWs) with equal coupling strengths of the Rashba and the Dresselhaus interactions (RD), and Dresselhaus-only [110] QWs. Here we present supporting results and further investigations, using our previous results [Phys. Rev. B 72, 153305 (2005)]. Refined PSH patterns for both RD [001] and Dresselhaus [110] QWs are shown, such that the feature of the helix is clearly seen. We also discuss the time dependence of spin to reexamine the origin of the p…
We demonstrate a spin pump to generate pure spin current of tunable intensity and polarization in the absence of charge current. The pumping functionality is achieved by means of an ac gate voltage that modulates the Rashba constant dynamically in a local region of a quantum channel with both static Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. Spin-resolved Floquet scattering matrix is calculated to analyze the whole scattering process. Pumped spin current can be divided into spin-preserved transmission and spin-flip reflection parts. These two terms have opposite polarization of spin curre…
The quantum oscillatory magnetization M of a two-dimensional electron system in a magnetic field B is found to provide quantitative information on both the Rashba- and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (SOI). This is shown by first numerically solving the model Hamiltonian including the linear Rashba- and Dresselhaus SOI and the Zeeman term in an in particular doubly tilted magnetic field and second evaluating the intrinsically anisotropic magnetization for different directions of the in-plane magnetic field component. The amplitude of specific magnetic quantum oscillations in M(B) is found t…
In an earlier paper [Phys. Rev. B 84, 035323 (2011)], we proposed a spin filter which was based on a diamond-like interferometer, subject to both an Aharonov-Bohm flux and (Rashba and Dresselhaus) spin-orbit interactions. Here we show that the full polarization of the outgoing electron spins remains the same even when one allows leakage of electrons from the branches of the interferometer. Once the gate voltage on one of the branches is tuned to achieve an effective symmetry between them, this polarization can be controlled by the electric and/or magnetic fields which determine the spin-orbit …
Electronic transport in closed loop structures is addressed within a tight-binding formalism and in the presence of both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. It has been shown that any one of the spin-orbit fields can be estimated precisely if the other one is known, by observing either the transmission resonance or anti-resonance of unpolarized electrons. The result is obtained through an exact analytic calculation for a simple square loop, and through a numerically exact formulation for a circular ring. The sensitivity of the transport properties on the geometry of the interfe…
Polarization-sensitive devices rely on meta-materials to exhibit varying degrees of absorption of light of a given handedness. The chiral surface states of a topological insulator(TI) selectively absorb right and left circularly polarized light in the vicinity of the Dirac cone reaching its maximum of unity at the $ Γ$ point. In this letter, we demonstrate that a band gap open TI with C$_{2v}$ symmetry which is represented through a combination of Rashba and Dresselhaus Hamiltonians alters the preferential absorption of left and right circularly polarized light allowing a smooth variation of t…
A nonperturbative interaction of an electronic system with a laser field can substantially modify its physical properties. In particular, in two-dimensional (2D) materials with a lack of inversion symmetry, the achievement of a regime of strong light-matter coupling allows direct optical tuning of the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI). Capitalizing on these results, we build a theory of the dynamical conductivity of a 2D electron gas with both Rashba and Dresselhaus SOIs coupled to an off-resonant high-frequency electromagnetic wave. We argue that strong light-matter coupling…
Spin-orbit interaction in semiconductor structures with broken space inversion symmetry leads to spin splitting of electron and hole states even in the absence of magnetic field. We discover that, beyond the Rashba and Dresselhaus contributions, there is an additional type of the zero-field spin splitting which is caused by the interplay of the cubic shape of crystal unit cell and macroscopic structure asymmetry. In quantum wells grown along low-symmetry crystallographic axes, this type of spin-orbit interaction couples the out-of-plane component of carrier's spin with the in-plane momentum wh…
It is well known that the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in semiconductor two dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) possesses both linear and cubic in momentum contributions. Nevertheless, the latter is usually neglected in most theoretical studies. However, recent Kerr rotation experiments have revealed a significant enhancement of the cubic Dresselhaus interaction by increasing the drift velocities in 2DEGs hosted in GaAs quantum wells. Here, we present a study of the optical spin Hall conductivity in 2DEGs under the simultaneous presence of Rashba and (linear plus cubic) Dresselhaus SOC…
The interplay between Rashba, Dresselhaus and Zeeman interactions in a quantum well submitted to an external magnetic field is studied by means of an accurate analytical solution of the Hamiltonian, including electron-electron interactions in a sum rule approach. This solution allows to discuss the influence of the spin-orbit coupling on some relevant quantities that have been measured in inelastic light scattering and electron-spin resonance experiments on quantum wells. In particular, we have evaluated the spin-orbit contribution to the spin splitting of the Landau levels and to the splittin…
We study theoretically the statistical properties of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction between localized magnetic moments in a disordered two-dimensional electron gas with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. Averaging over disorder, the static spin susceptibility tensor is evaluated diagrammatically in the mesoscopic (phase-coherent) regime. The disorder-averaged susceptibility leads to a twisted exchange interaction suppressed exponentially with distance, whereas the second-order correlations, which determine the fluctuations (variance) of the RKKY energy, dec…
When subjected to a linearly polarized terahertz pulse, a mesoscopic ring endowed with spin-orbit interaction (SOI) of the Rashba-Dresselhaus type exhibits nonuniform azimuthal charge and spin distributions. Both types of SOI couplings are considered linear in the electron momentum. Our results are obtained within a formalism based on the equation of motion satisfied by the density operator which is solved numerically for different values of the angle $ϕ$, the angle determining the polarization direction of the laser pulse. Solutions thus obtained are later employed in determining the time-dep…
In symmetric quantum dots (QDs), it is well known that the spin-hot spot (i.e., the cusp-like structure due to the presence of degeneracy near the level or anticrossing point) is present for the pure Rashba case but is absent for the pure Dresselhaus case [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 076805 (2005)]. Since the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling dominates over the Rashba spin-orbit coupling in GaAs and GaSb QDs, it is important to find the exact location of the spin-hot spot or the cusp-like structure even for the pure Dresselhaus case. In this paper, for the first time, we present analytical and numerica…
The generation of spin current and spin polarization in a 2DEG structure is studied in the presence of Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit couplings (SOC), the strength of the latter being modulated in time by an ac gate voltage. By means of the non-Abelian gauge field approach, we established the relation between the Lorentz spin force and the spin current in the SOC system, and showed that the longitudinal component of the spin force induces a transverse spin current. For a constant (time-invariant) Rashba system, we recover the universal spin Hall conductivity of $\frac e{8π}$, derived previo…
Generating and controlling spin current (SC) are of central interest in spin physics and applications. To date, the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) is an established pathway to generate SC through the spin-charge current conversion. We predict an efficient spin-light conversion via the Rashba and higher-order cubic Dresselhaus SOIs in ferroelectrics. Different from the known Edelstein effect, where SC is created by the nonequilibrium spin density, our predicted spin-polarized current is from direct interactions between light and unique spin textures generated by SOI in ferroelectrics. Using first…
In a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings, there are two spin-split energy surfaces connected with a degenerate point. Both the energy surfaces and the topology of the Fermi surfaces can be varied by an in-plane magnetic field. We find that, if the chemical potential falls between the bottom of the upper band and the degenerate point, then simply by changing the direction of the magnetic field, the magnitude of the spin Hall conductivity can be varied by about 100 percent. Once the chemical potential is above the degenerate point, the spin Hall conducti…
We investigate the spin-orbit induced spin-interference pattern of ballistic electrons travelling along any regular polygon. It is found that the spin-interference depends strongly on the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit constants as well as on the sidelength and alignment of the polygon. We derive the analytical formulae for the limiting cases of either zero Dresselhaus or zero Rashba spin-orbit coupling, including the result obtained for a circle. We calculate the nonzero Dresselhaus and Rashba case numerically for the square, triangle, hexagon, and circle and discuss the observability of t…
The spin Hall effect in a finite ballistic two-dimensional system with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction is studied numerically. We find that the spin Hall conductance is very sensitive to the transverse measuring location, the shape and size of the device, and the strength of the spin-orbit interaction. Not only the amplitude of spin Hall conductance but also its sign can change. This non-universal behavior of the spin Hall effect is essentially different from that of the charge Hall effect, in which the Hall voltage is almost invariant with the transverse measuring site and is a …
We study the effect of the interplay between the Rashba and the Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings on the transverse electron focusing in two-dimensional electron gases. Depending on their relative magnitude, the presence of both couplings can result in the splitting of the first focusing peak into two or three. This splitting has information about the relative value of spin-orbit couplings and therefore about the shape of the Fermi surface. More interesting, the presence of the third peak is directly related to the tunneling probability ("magnetic breakdown") between orbits corresponding to the…
Spin-orbit coupling is a manifestation of special relativity. In the reference frame of a moving electron, electric fields transform into magnetic fields, which interact with the electron spin and lift the degeneracy of spin-up and spin-down states. In solid-state systems, the resulting spin-orbit fields are referred to as Dresselhaus or Rashba fields, depending on whether the electric fields originate from bulk or structure inversion asymmetry, respectively. Yet, it remains a challenge to determine the absolute value of both contributions in a single sample. Here we show that both fields can …
We discuss how electron-electron interactions renormalize the spin-orbit induced anticrossings between different subbands in ballistic quantum wires. Depending on the ratio of spin-orbit coupling and subband spacing, electron-electron interactions can either increase or decrease anticrossing gaps. When the anticrossings are closing due to a special combination of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings, their gap approaches zero as an interaction dependent power law of the spin-orbit couplings, which is a consequence of Luttinger liquid physics. Monitoring the closing of the anticrossings …
Solutions of the Schrödinger equation are obtained for an electron in a two-dimensional circular semiconductor quantum ring in the presence of both external uniform constant magnetic field and the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions of equal strengths. Confinement is simulated by a realistic potential well of a finite depth. The dependence of the energy levels on a magnetic field strength, strength of spin-orbit interaction and a relative ring width is presented.
