Spin evolution of cold atomic gases in SU(2)⊗\otimes U(1) fields

We consider response function and spin evolution in spin-orbit coupled cold atomic gases in a synthetic gauge magnetic field influencing solely the orbital motion of atoms. We demonstrate that various regimes of spin-orbit coupling strength, magnetic field, and disorder can be treated within a single approach based on the representation of atomic motion in terms of auxiliary collective classical trajectories. Our approach allows for a unified description of fermionic and bosonic gases.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Diffusive and precessional spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas with disorder: a gauge theory view

We develop a gauge theory for diffusive and precessional spin dynamics in two-dimensional electron gas with disorder. Our approach reveals a direct connections between the absence of the equilibrium spin current and strong anisotropy in the spin relaxation: both effects arise if the spin-orbit coupling is reduced to a pure gauge SU(2) field. In this case, by a gauge transformation in the form of a local SU(2) rotation in the spin subspace the spin-orbit coupling can be removed. The resulting spin dynamics is exactly described in terms of two kinetic coefficients: the spin diffusion and electron mobility. After the inverse transformation, full diffusive and precessional spin density dynamics, including the anisotropic spin relaxation, formation of stable spin structures, and spin precession induced by a macroscopic current, is restored. Explicit solutions of the spin evolution equations are found for the initially uniform spin density and for stable nonuniform structures. Our analysis demonstrates a universal relation between the spin relaxation rate and spin diffusion coefficient.Comment: published version, minor correction

Duality of the spin and density dynamics for two-dimensional electrons with a spin-orbit coupling

We study spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas with a pure gauge non-Abelian spin-orbit field, for which systems with balanced Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings, and the (110)-axis grown GaAs quantum wells are typical examples. We demonstrate the duality of the spin evolution and the electron-density dynamics in a system without spin-orbit coupling, which considerably simplifies and deepens the analysis of spin-dependent processes. This duality opens a venue for the understanding of this class of systems, highly interesting for their applications in spintronics, through known properties of the systems without spin-orbit coupling.Comment: version accepted to PRB, revtex4, 4+ pages, 1 figur

Pulse-pumped double quantum dot with spin-orbit coupling

We consider the full driven quantum dynamics of a qubit realized as spin of electron in a one-dimensional double quantum dot with spin-orbit coupling. The driving perturbation is taken in the form of a single half-period pulse of electric field. Spin-orbit coupling leads to a nontrivial evolution in the spin and charge densities making the dynamics in both quantities irregular. As a result, the charge density distribution becomes strongly spin-dependent. The transition from the field-induced tunneling to the strong coupling regime is clearly seen in the charge and spin channels. These results can be important for the understanding of the techniques for the spin manipulation in nanostructures.Comment: 6 figure