Anisotropic plasmons in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction

2008/04/30 by S. M. Badalyan, A. Matos-Abiague, G. Vignale +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.79.205305

published as PHYSICAL REVIEW B 79, 205305 (2009) · 4 figures

arxiv created 2009/02/24 · arxiv updated 2013/05/29

Abstract

Spin-orbit coupling induced anisotropies of plasmon dynamics are investigated in two-dimensional semiconductor structures. The interplay of the linear Bychkov-Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions drastically affects the plasmon spectrum: the dynamical structure factor exhibits variations over several decades, prohibiting plasmon propagation in specific directions. While this plasmon filtering makes the presence of spin-orbit coupling in plasmon dynamics observable, it also offers a control tool for plasmonic devices. Remarkably, if the strengths of the two interactions are equal, not only the anisotropy, but all the traces of the linear spin-orbit coupling in the collective response disappear.

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