Spin accumulation and equilibrium currents at the edge of 2DEGs with spin-orbit coupling

2004/05/31 by Gonzalo Usaj, G Usaj, C. A. Balseiro +1 · 3 citations
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/epl/i2005-10266-0

published as Europhys. Lett., 72 (4), pp. 631-637 (2005) · 4 pages, 4 figures, published version

openalex publication_date 2005/10/13 · arxiv created 2005/11/30 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We show that in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) the interplay between the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and a potential barrier ( e.g. , the sample edge) generates interesting spin effects. In the presence of an external charge current, a spin accumulation is built up near the barrier while in equilibrium there is an inhomogeneous spin current which is localized at the barrier and flows parallel to it. When an in-plane magnetic field perpendicular to the barrier is applied, the system also develops an inhomogeneous charge current density. These effects originate purely from the structure of the eigenstates near the boundary.

Citations

• Spin Current and Polarization in Impure Two-Dimensional Electron Systems with Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Observation of the Spin Hall Effect in Semiconductors
• Spin Polarization of Electrons by Nonmagnetic Heterostructures: The Basics of Spin Optics
• Transverse electron focusing in systems with spin-orbit coupling
• Dissipationless Quantum Spin Current at Room Temperature
• Transport equations for a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction

Cited by

• Spin Hall effect and zitterbewegung in an electron waveguide
• Polarized electric current in semiclassical transport with spin-orbit interaction
• Spin Hall effect due to intersubband-induced spin-orbit interaction in symmetric quantum wells