Weak Localization, Spin Relaxation, and Spin-Diffusion: The Crossover Between Weak and Strong Rashba Coupling Limits

Abstract

Disorder scattering and spin-orbit coupling are together responsible for the diffusion and relaxation of spin-density in time-reversal invariant systems. We study spin-relaxation and diffusion in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling and spin-independent disorder, focusing on the role of Rashba spin-orbit coupling in transport. Spin-orbit coupling contributes to spin relaxation, transforming the quantum interference contribution to conductivity from a negative weak localization (WL) correction to a positive weak anti-localization (WAL) correction. The importance of spin channel mixing in transport is largest in the regime where the Bloch state energy uncertainty $\hslash /\tau$ and the Rashba spin-orbit splitting ${\Delta }_{\mathrm{SO}}$ are comparable. We find that as a consequence of this spin channel mixing, the WL-WAL crossover is non-monotonic in this intermediate regime, and use our results to address recent experimental studies of transport at two-dimensional oxide interfaces.

12 pages, 9 figures

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• Tunable spin-orbit coupling in two-dimensional InSe
• Positive Quantum Magnetoresistance in Tilted Magnetic Field
• Spin relaxation in wurtzite nanowires
• A Unified Description of Spin Transport, Weak Antilocalization and Triplet Superconductivity in Systems with Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Emergence of Rashba spin valley state in two-dimensional strained bismuth oxychalcogenides Bi${}_2$O${}_2$Se
• Weak Localisation Driven by Pseudospin-Spin Entanglement
• Scaling of the chiral magnetic effect in quantum diffusive Weyl semimetals
• Spin polarization induced by an electric field in the presence of weak localization effects
• Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling and Nonlocal Correlations in Disordered 2D Systems
• Interplay of Rashba spin orbit coupling and disorder in the conductance properties of a four terminal junction device