Mechanical measurement of equilibrium spin currents in the Rashba medium

Abstract

We demonstrate that an equilibrium spin current in a 2D electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit interaction (Rashba medium) results in a mechanical torque on a substrate near an edge of the medium. If the substrate is a cantilever, the mechanical torque displaces the free end of the cantilever. The effect can be enhanced and tuned by a magnetic field. Observation of this displacement would be an effective method to prove existence of equilibrium spin currents. The analysis of edges of the Rashba medium demonstrates the existence of localized edge states. They form a 1D continuum of states. This suggests a new type of quantum wire: spin-orbit quantum wire.

4 pages, 1 figure

References in corpus (4)

• Feedback cooling of a cantilever's fundamental mode below 5 mK
• Spin polarization of electrons by non-magnetic heterostructures : basics of spin-optics
• Equilibrium spin currents in the Rashba medium
• Theory of Edge States in Systems with Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Persistent spin current in nano-devices and definition of the spin current
• Quantum dissipative Rashba spin ratchets
• Gauge symmetry breaking and topological quantization for the Pauli Hamiltonian
• Equilibrium edge spin currents in two-dimensional electron systems with spin-orbit interaction
• Spin polarization of electron current through a potential barrier in two-dimensional structures with spin-orbit interaction