Rashba interaction in quantum wires with in-plane magnetic fields

We analyze the spectral and transport properties of ballistic quasi one-dimensional systems in the presence of spin-orbit coupling and in-plane agnetic fields. Our results demonstrate that Rashba precession and intersubband coupling must be treated on equal footing for wavevectors near the magnetic field induced gaps. We find that intersubband coupling limits the occurrence of negative effective masses at the gap edges and modifies the linear conductance curves in the strong coupling limit. The effect of the magnetic field on the spin textured orientation of the wire magnetization is discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures; new figures, discussion extende

Resonance-like electrical control of electron spin for microwave measurement

We demonstrate that the spin-polarized electron current can interact with a microwave electric field in a resonant manner. The spin-orbit interaction gives rise to an effective magnetic field proportional to the electric current. In the presence of both dc and ac electric field components, electron spin resonance occurs if the ac frequency matches with the spin precession frequency that is controlled by the dc field. In a device consisting of two spin-polarized contacts connected by a two-dimensional channel, this mechanism allows electrically tuned detection of the ac signal frequency and amplitude. For GaAs, such detection is effective in the frequency domain around tens of gigahertz.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Interacting fermions in two dimensions: beyond the perturbation theory

We consider a system of 2D fermions with short-range interaction. A straightforward perturbation theory is shown to be ill-defined even for an infinitesimally weak interaction, as the perturbative series for the self-energy diverges near the mass shell. We show that the divergences result from the interaction of fermions with the zero-sound collective mode. By re-summing the most divergent diagrams, we obtain a closed form of the self-energy near the mass shell. The spectral function exhibits a threshold feature at the onset of the emission of the zero-sound waves. We also show that the interaction with the zero sound does not affect a non-analytic, $T^{2}$-part of the specific heat.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Evanescent states in 2D electron systems with spin-orbit interaction and spin-dependent transmission through a barrier

We find that the total spectrum of electron states in a bounded 2D electron gas with spin-orbit interaction contains two types of evanescent states lying in different energy ranges. The first-type states fill in a gap, which opens in the band of propagating spin-splitted states if tangential momentum is nonzero. They are described by a pure imaginary wavevector. The states of second type lie in the forbidden band. They are described by a complex wavevector. These states give rise to unusual features of the electron transmission through a lateral potential barrier with spin-orbit interaction, such as an oscillatory dependence of the tunneling coefficient on the barrier width and electron energy. But of most interest is the spin polarization of an unpolarized incident electron flow. Particularly, the transmitted electron current acquires spin polarization even if the distribution function of incident electrons is symmetric with respect to the transverse momentum. The polarization efficiency is an oscillatory function of the barrier width. Spin filtering is most effective, if the Fermi energy is close to the barrier height.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, more general boundary conditions are used, typos correcte

Interplay of spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman splitting in the absorption lineshape of 2D fermions

We suggest that electron spin resonance (ESR) experiment can be used as a probe of spinon excitations of hypothetical spin-liquid state of frustrated antiferromagnet in the presence of asymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction. We describe assumptions under which the ESR response is reduced to the response of 2D electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Unlike previous treatments, the spin-orbit coupling, \Delta_{SO}, is not assumed small compared to the Zeeman splitting, \Delta_Z. We demonstrate that ESR response diverges at the edges of the absorption spectrum for ac magnetic field perpendicular to the static field. At the compensation point, \Delta_{SO}\approx \Delta_Z, the broad absorption spectrum exhibits features that evolve with temperature, T, even when T is comparable to the Fermi energy.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Spin-polarized electric currents in quantum transport through tubular two-dimensional electron gases

Scattering theory is employed to derive a Landauer-type formula for the spin and the charge currents, through a finite region where spin-orbit interactions are effective. It is shown that the transmission matrix yields the spatial direction and the magnitude of the spin polarization. This formula is used to study the currents through a tubular two-dimensional electron gas. In this cylindrical geometry, which may be realized in experiment, the transverse conduction channels are not mixed (provided that the spin-orbit coupling is uniform). It is then found that for modest boundary scattering, each step in the quantized conductance is split into two, and the new steps have a non-zero spin conductance, with the spin polarization perpendicular to the direction of the current.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Fast Incomplete Decoherence of Nuclear Spins in Quantum Hall Ferromagnet

A scenario of quantum computing process based on the manipulation of a large number of nuclear spins in Quantum Hall (QH) ferromagnet is presented. It is found that vacuum quantum fluctuations in the QH ferromagnetic ground state at filling factor $\nu =1$, associated with the virtual excitations of spin waves, lead to fast incomplete decoherence of the nuclear spins. A fundamental upper bound on the length of the computer memory is set by this fluctuation effect

De Haas-van Alphen effect in two- and quasi two-dimensional metals and superconductors

An analytical form of the quantum magnetization oscillations (de Haas-van Alphen effect) is derived for two- and quasi two-dimensional metals in normal and superconducting mixed states. The theory is developed under condition that the chemical potential is much greater than the cyclotron frequency, which is proved to be valid for using grand canonical ensemble in the systems of low dimensionality. Effects of impurity, temperature, spin-splitting and vortex lattice - in the case of superconductors of type II -, are taken into account. Contrary to the three dimensional case, the oscillations in sufficiently pure systems of low dimensionality and at sufficiently low temperatures are characterized by a saw-tooth wave form, which smoothened with temperature and concentration of impurities growth. In the normal quasi two-dimensional systems, the expression for the magnetization oscillations includes an extra factor expressed through the transfer integral between the layers. The additional damping effect due to the vortex lattice is found. The criterion of proximity to the upper critical field for the observation of de Haas-van Alphen effect in the superconducting mixed state is established.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, revised versio

Spin precession due to spin-orbit coupling in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin injection via ideal quantum point contact

We present the analytical result of the expectation value of spin resulting from an injected spin polarized electron into a semi-infinitely extended 2DEG plane with [001] growth geometry via ideal quantum point contact. Both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings are taken into account. A pictorial interpretation of the spin precession along certain transport directions is given. The spin precession due to the Rashba term is found to be especially interesting since it behaves simply like a windshield wiper which is very different from the ordinary precession while that due to the Dresselhaus term is shown to be crystallographic-direction-dependent. Some crystallographic directions with interesting and handleable behavior of spin precession are found and may imply certain applicability in spintronic devices.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.