Spin-orbital coupling and transport property in semiconductor electron gas

1. edge-comfinement-induced spin-orbital coupling model

Key finding:

    Due to the symmetry of the confining potential,   the spin-orbit coupling constant has opposite signs at both edges of the strip,  thus the spins will be  polarized along opposite directions at both edges of the strip when a charge current circulates through the strip,   similar to an spin Hall effect.

Quotes from “All-electric quantum point contact spin-polarizer(Nature nanotechonology 4,759(2009))”:

“In this work, we present the first experimental study of spin-orbit coupling induced by the in-plane electric field due to the lateral

confining potential of a quantum wire and investigate its potential for spin injection and detection. Because this spin-orbit coupling

 results from the lateral electric field, we call it lateral spin-orbit coupling.  It is distinctly different from Rashba spin-orbit coupling,

 which arises from the electric field due to the asymmetry in the confining potential of a quantum well (QW) structure. Recently, it

has been theoretically demonstrated that lateral spin-orbit coupling can induce accumulation of opposite spin species on the opposite

 edges of a quantum wire when a current flows in it[7-9].”   where [9] is our paper.

Spin-orbital coupling and transport property in semiconductor electron gas

2.  Nonequilibrium spin polarization effects in a Rashba spin-orbit coupling system and contacting metallic leads

Y. J. Jiang,  PRB,74,195308(2006) 

Key finding:

   spin non-polarized current injected to a region with spin-orbital coupling may be reflected or transmitted with spin polarized current.