Zero-field spin splitting in InAs-AlSb quantum wells revisited

We present magnetotransport experiments on high-quality InAs-AlSb quantum wells that show a perfectly clean single-period Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation down to very low magnetic fields. In contrast to theoretical expectations based on an asymmetry induced zero-field spin splitting, no beating effect is observed. The carrier density has been changed by the persistent photo conductivity effect as well as via the application of hydrostatic pressure in order to influence the electric field at the interface of the electron gas. Still no indication of spin splitting at zero magnetic field was observed in spite of highly resolved Shubnikov- de Haas oscillations up to filling factors of 200. This surprising and unexpected result is discussed in view of other recently published data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Gate-Controlled Electron Spin Resonance in a GaAs/AlGaAs Heterostructure

The electron spin resonance (ESR) of two-dimensional electrons is investigated in a gated GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructure. We found that the ESR resonance frequency can be turned by means of a gate voltage. The front and back gates of the heterostructure produce opposite g-factor shift, suggesting that electron g-factor is being electrostatically controlled by shifting the equilibrium position of the electron wave function from one epitaxial layer to another with different g-factors

Conduction band spin splitting and negative magnetoresistance in A3B5{\rm A}_3{\rm B}_5 heterostructures

The quantum interference corrections to the conductivity are calculated for an electron gas in asymmetric quantum wells in a magnetic field. The theory takes into account two different types of the spin splitting of the conduction band: the Dresselhaus terms, both linear and cubic in the wave vector, and the Rashba term, linear in wave vector. It is shown that the contributions of these terms into magnetoconductivity are not additive, as it was traditionally assumed. While the contributions of all terms of the conduction band splitting into the D'yakonov--Perel' spin relaxation rate are additive, in the conductivity the two linear terms cancel each other, and, when they are equal, in the absence of the cubic terms the conduction band spin splitting does not show up in the magnetoconductivity at all. The theory agrees very well with experimental results and enables one to determine experimentally parameters of the spin-orbit splitting of the conduction band.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX, 4 Postscript figure

Electron spin operation by electric fields: spin dynamics and spin injection

Spin-orbit interaction couples electron spins to electric fields and allows electrical monitoring of electron spins and electrical detection of spin dynamics. Competing mechanisms of spin-orbit interaction are compared, and optimal conditions for the electric operation of electrons spins in a quantum well by a gate voltage are established. Electric spin injection into semiconductors is discussed with a special emphasis on the injection into ballistic microstructures. Dramatic effect of a long range Coulomb interaction on transport phenomena in space-quantized low-dimensional conductors is discussed in conclusion.Comment: A plenary paper at the 11th Intern. Conf. on Narrow Gap Semiconductors (Buffalo, NY, June 2003). To be published in Physica

Topological defects and Goldstone excitations in domain walls between ferromagnetic quantum Hall effect liquids

It is shown that the low-energy spectrum of a ferromagnetic quantum Hall effect liquid in a system with a multi-domain structure generated by an inhomogeneous bare Zeeman splitting $\epsilon_{Z}$ is formed by excitations localized at the walls between domains. For a step-like $\epsilon_Z(r)$, the domain wall spectrum includes a spin-wave with a linear dispersion and a small gap due to spin-orbit coupling, and a low-energy topological defects. The latter are charged and may dominate in the transport under conditions that the percolation through the network of domain walls is provided.Comment: 4 pages, 1 fi

Spin-orbit coupling effect on quantum Hall ferromagnets with vanishing Zeeman energy

We present the phase diagram of a ferromagnetic quantum Hall effect liquid in a narrow quantum well with vanishing single-particle Zeeman splitting, $\epsilon_{{\rm Z}}$ and pronounced spin-orbit coupling. Upon decreasing $\epsilon_{{\rm Z}}$, the spin-polarization field of a liquid takes, first, the easy-axis configuration, followed by the formation of a helical state, which affects the transport and NMR properties of a liquid and the form of topological defects in it. The analysis is extended over high odd integer filling factors.Comment: This revised version takes into account easy-axis terms in the energy and offers a corrected phase diagram of the ferromagnetic QHE liquid. Analysis is extended over higher filling factor

Spin-Orbit Interaction Enhanced Fractional Quantum Hall States in the Second Landau Level

We study the fractional quantum Hall effect at filling fractions 7/3 and 5/2 in the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, using the exact diagonalization method and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method in a spherical geometry. Trial wave functions at these fillings are the Laughlin state and the Moore-Reed-Pfaffian state. The ground state excitation energy gaps and pair-correlation functions at fractional filling factor 7/3 and 5/2 in the second Landau level are calculated. We find that the spin-orbit interaction stabilizes the fractional quantum Hall states.Comment: 4pages, 4figure

Theory of electrical spin injection: Tunnel contacts as a solution of the conductivity mismatch problem

Theory of electrical spin injection from a ferromagnetic (FM) metal into a normal (N) conductor is presented. We show that tunnel contacts (T) can dramatically increase spin injection and solve the problem of the mismatch in the conductivities of a FM metal and a semiconductor microstructure. We also present explicit expressions for the spin-valve resistance of FM-T-N- and FM-T-N-T-FM-junctions with tunnel contacts at the interfaces and show that the resistance includes both positive and negative contributions (Kapitza resistance and injection conductivity, respectively).Comment: 4 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. B (rapid communications

Filtering spin with tunnel-coupled electron wave guides

We show how momentum-resolved tunneling between parallel electron wave guides can be used to observe and exploit lifting of spin degeneracy due to Rashba spin-orbit coupling. A device is proposed that achieves spin filtering without using ferromagnets or the Zeeman effect.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTex

Interference of Spin Splittings in Magneto-Oscillation Phenomena in Two-Dimensional Systems

The spin splitting caused by the terms linear in wavevector in the effective Hamiltonian containing can give rise to the new magneto-oscillation phenomena in two-dimensional systems. It is shown that the joint action of the spin-dependent contributions due to the heterostructure asymmetry and to the lack of inversion center in the bulk material suppresses beats that arise in the magneto-oscillation phenomena in the presence of the terms of only one of these types.Comment: pdf file, 4 pages, 2 figure