Transverse electron focusing in systems with spin-orbit coupling

2004/05/04 by Gonzalo Usaj, C. A. Balseiro
Physics and Astronomy · #Magnetic properties of thin films #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.70.041301

published as Phys. Rev. B 70, 041301(R) (2004) · 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in PRB(RC)

arxiv created 2004/05/04 · openalex publication_date 2004/07/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We study the transverse electron focusing in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We show that the interplay between the external magnetic field and the spin-orbit coupling gives two branches of states with different cyclotron radius within the same energy window. This effect generates a splitting of the first focusing peak in two contributions. Each one of these contributions is spin polarized. The surface reflection mixes the two branches and the second focusing peak does not present the same effect. While for GaAs∕AlGaAs heterostructures the effect is small, in systems like InSb∕InAlSb the effect should be clearly observed.

Citations

• Landauer formula for the current through an interacting electron region

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