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Symmetry of hole spin transport in a two-terminal quantum system

Brusheim, Patrik LU and Xu, Hongqi LU (2006) In Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics) 74(23).
Abstract
We study two-terminal hole spin transport in a p-type, light-hole-heavy-hole coupled, quantum-well system under the influence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction. An expression for the spin polarization of the outgoing hole flux is derived. It is shown that the in-plane spin polarization vanishes identically whenever the outgoing lead supports only heavy-hole channels. This result is independent of the details of the system. By analyzing the symmetries of the system, constraints on the spin-dependent transmission amplitudes are derived. It is shown that under time-reversal symmetry, the total hole spin polarization vanishes whenever the outgoing lead supports only one spin-degenerate hole channel, which is also independent of the details of... (More)
We study two-terminal hole spin transport in a p-type, light-hole-heavy-hole coupled, quantum-well system under the influence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction. An expression for the spin polarization of the outgoing hole flux is derived. It is shown that the in-plane spin polarization vanishes identically whenever the outgoing lead supports only heavy-hole channels. This result is independent of the details of the system. By analyzing the symmetries of the system, constraints on the spin-dependent transmission amplitudes are derived. It is shown that under time-reversal symmetry, the total hole spin polarization vanishes whenever the outgoing lead supports only one spin-degenerate hole channel, which is also independent of the details of the system. It is further shown that generally it is difficult to achieve spin polarized currents from a laterally defined Rashba hole device without breaking its transverse reflection symmetry. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)
volume
74
issue
23
article number
233306
publisher
American Physical Society
external identifiers
  • wos:000243195700013
  • scopus:33845761427
ISSN
1098-0121
DOI
10.1103/PhysRevB.74.233306
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e7e7820e-528d-4ab7-9153-1629b769cde5 (old id 679886)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:48:41
date last changed
2022-01-28 22:17:47
@article{e7e7820e-528d-4ab7-9153-1629b769cde5,
  abstract     = {{We study two-terminal hole spin transport in a p-type, light-hole-heavy-hole coupled, quantum-well system under the influence of Rashba spin-orbit interaction. An expression for the spin polarization of the outgoing hole flux is derived. It is shown that the in-plane spin polarization vanishes identically whenever the outgoing lead supports only heavy-hole channels. This result is independent of the details of the system. By analyzing the symmetries of the system, constraints on the spin-dependent transmission amplitudes are derived. It is shown that under time-reversal symmetry, the total hole spin polarization vanishes whenever the outgoing lead supports only one spin-degenerate hole channel, which is also independent of the details of the system. It is further shown that generally it is difficult to achieve spin polarized currents from a laterally defined Rashba hole device without breaking its transverse reflection symmetry.}},
  author       = {{Brusheim, Patrik and Xu, Hongqi}},
  issn         = {{1098-0121}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{23}},
  publisher    = {{American Physical Society}},
  series       = {{Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics)}},
  title        = {{Symmetry of hole spin transport in a two-terminal quantum system}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.74.233306}},
  doi          = {{10.1103/PhysRevB.74.233306}},
  volume       = {{74}},
  year         = {{2006}},
}