2007/07/15 by Lorenz Meier, Gian Salis, Ivan Shorubalko +6 · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Magnetic properties of thin films #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nphys675
published as Nature Physics 3, 650 - 654 (2007)
openalex publication_date 2007/07/15 · arxiv created 2007/09/16 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Spin-orbit coupling is a manifestation of special relativity. In the reference frame of a moving electron, electric fields transform into magnetic fields, which interact with the electron spin and lift the degeneracy of spin-up and spin-down states. In solid-state systems, the resulting spin-orbit fields are referred to as Dresselhaus or Rashba fields, depending on whether the electric fields originate from bulk or structure inversion asymmetry, respectively. Yet, it remains a challenge to determine the absolute value of both contributions in a single sample. Here we show that both fields can be measured by optically monitoring the angular dependence of the electrons' spin precession on their direction of movement with respect to the crystal lattice. Furthermore, we demonstrate spin resonance induced by the spin-orbit fields. We apply our method to GaAs/InGaAs quantum-well electrons, but it can be used universally to characterise spin-orbit interactions in semiconductors, facilitating the design of spintronic devices.