Authors

G. Feve, W. D. Oliver, M. Aranzana, Y. Yamamoto

Abstract

The influence of spin-orbit coupling in two-dimensional systems is investigated within the framework of the Landauer-B"uttiker coherent scattering formalism. After a short review of the features of spin-orbit coupling in two-dimensional electron gases, we define the creation and annihilation operators for the stationary states of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling Hamiltonian and use them to calculate the current operator within the Landauer-B"uttiker formalism. The current is expressed as it is in the standard spin-independent case, but with the spin label replaced by a new label, which we call the spin-orbit coupling label. The spin-orbit coupling effects can then be represented in a scattering matrix that relates the spin-orbit coupling stationary states in different leads. As an example, we calculate the scattering matrix in the case of a four-port beam splitter, and it is shown to mix states with different spin-orbit coupling labels in a manner that depends on the angle between the leads. A noise measurement after the collision of spin-polarized electrons at an electron beam splitter provides an experimental means to measure the Rashba parameter \( \ensuremath{\alpha}. \) It is also shown that the degree of electron bunching in an entangled-electron collision experiment is reduced by the spin-orbit coupling according to the beam splitter lead angle.

Citation

  • Journal: Physical Review B
  • Year: 2002
  • Volume: 66
  • Issue: 15
  • Pages:
  • Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
  • DOI: 10.1103/physrevb.66.155328

BibTeX

@article{Feve_2002,
  title={{Rashba effect within the coherent scattering formalism}},
  volume={66},
  ISSN={1095-3795},
  DOI={10.1103/physrevb.66.155328},
  number={15},
  journal={Physical Review B},
  publisher={American Physical Society (APS)},
  author={Feve, G. and Oliver, W. D. and Aranzana, M. and Yamamoto, Y.},
  year={2002}
}

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