English

Spin-orbit coupling effects in one-dimensional ballistic quantum wires

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2009-11-13 v2

Abstract

We study the spin-dependent electronic transport through a one-dimensional ballistic quantum wire in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction. In particular, we consider the effect of the spin-orbit interaction resulting from the lateral confinement of the two-dimensional electron gas to the one-dimensional wire geometry. We generalize a situation suggested earlier [P. Streda and P. Seba, Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 256601 (2003)] which allows for spin-polarized electron transport. As a result of the lateral confinement, the spin is rotated out of the plane of the two-dimensional system. We furthermore investigate the spin-dependent transmission and the polarization of an electron current at a potential barrier. Finally, we construct a lattice model which shows similar low-energy physics. In the future, this lattice model will allow us to study how the electron-electron interaction affects the transport properties of the present setup.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0709.1057,
  title  = {Spin-orbit coupling effects in one-dimensional ballistic quantum wires},
  author = {J. E. Birkholz and V. Meden},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0709.1057},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

7 pages, 6 figures, revised version

R2 v1 2026-06-21T09:14:59.196Z