U Zülicke et al 2007 New J. Phys. 9 355 doi:10.1088/1367-2630/9/9/355
Magnetic focusing of charge carriers from spin-split bands: semiclassics of a Zitterbewegung effect
Focus on Spintronics in Reduced DimensionsU Zülicke1,4, J Bolte2 and R Winkler3
Show affiliationsPart of Focus on Spintronics in Reduced Dimensions
We present a theoretical study of the interplay between cyclotron motion and spin splitting of charge carriers in solids. While many of our results apply more generally, we focus especially on the Rashba model describing electrons in the conduction band of asymmetric semiconductor heterostructures. Appropriate semiclassical limits are distinguished that describe various situations of experimental interest. Our analytical formulae, which take full account of Zeeman splitting, are used to analyse recent magnetic-focusing data. Surprisingly, it turns out that the Rashba effect can dominate the splitting of cyclotron orbits even when the Rashba and Zeeman spin-splitting energies are of the same order. We also find that the origin of spin-dependent cyclotron motion can be traced back to Zitterbewegung (ZB)-like oscillatory dynamics of charge carriers from spin-split bands. The relation between the two phenomena is discussed, and we estimate the effect of ZB-related corrections to the charge carriers' canonical position.
- PACS
-
73.20.At Surface states, band structure, electron density of states
71.70.Ej Spin-orbit coupling, Zeeman and Stark splitting, Jahn-Teller effect
72.20.-i Conductivity phenomena in semiconductors and insulators
- Subjects
- Dates
-
Issue 9 (September 2007)
Received 12 May 2007
Published 28 September 2007
-
Magnetic focusing of charge carriers from spin-split bands: semiclassics of a Zitterbewegung effect
U Zülicke et al 2007 New J. Phys. 9 355
-
An attempt to simplify coding for the Manchester electronic computer
R A Brooker 1955 Br. J. Appl. Phys. 6 307
-
Electric-field control of surface magnetic anisotropy: a density functional approach
Hongbin Zhang et al 2009 New J. Phys. 11 043007
-
Progress in the theoretical description of a strongly frustrated edge-shared model chain cuprate: Li2CuO2
S-L Drechsler et al 2010 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 200 012028
-
Disorder and superconductivity in doped semiconductor nanotubes
T Shirakawa et al 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 150 052238
-
Coulomb gap revisited – a renormalisation approach
A Mobius et al 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 150 022057
-
Basic properties of three-leg Heisenberg tube
Satoshi Nishimoto and Mitsuhiro Arikawa 2009 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 145 012041
-
Magnetic quantum oscillations of diagonal conductivity in a two-dimensional conductor with a weak square superlattice modulation under conditions of the integer quantum Hall effect
V M Gvozdikov and M Taut 2009 New J. Phys. 11 063005
-
Highly dispersive spin excitations in the chain cuprate Li2CuO2
W. E. A. Lorenz et al 2009 EPL 88 37002
-
Physics of the neutrino mass
R N Mohapatra 2004 New J. Phys. 6 82
Users also read
What's this?- Cyclotron motion in graphene
- Local Hanle-effect studies of spin drift and diffusion in n:GaAs epilayers and spin-transport devices
- An Electrostatic Focusing System and its Application to a Fine Focus X-Ray Tube
Related review articles
What's this?- Oxide nanostructures on a Nb surface and related systems: experiments and ab initio calculations
- Surface states in photonic crystals
- Spin and angle resolved photoemission on non-magnetic low-dimensional systems