Orthogonal Cherenkov sound in spin-orbit coupled systems

Abstract

Conventionally the Cherenkov sound is governed by {\it orbital} degrees of freedom and is excited by {\it supersonic} particles. Additionally, it usually has a {\it forward} nature with a conic geometry known as the Cherenkov cone whose axis is oriented {\it along} the {\it supersonic} particle motion. Here we predict Cherenkov sound of a unique nature entirely resulting from the electronic {\it spin} degree of freedom and demonstrate a fundamentally distinct Cherenkov effect originating from essentially {\it subsonic} electrons in two-dimensional gases with both Bychkov-Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. Specifically, we show that the axis of the conventional {\it forward} Cherenkov cone gets a nontrivial {\it quarter-turn} and at the same time the sound distribution strongly localizes around this rotated axis being now {\it orthogonal} to the {\it subsonic} particle motion. Apart from its fundamentally appealing nature, the orthogonal Cherenkov sound could have applications in planar semiconductor technology combining spin and acoustic phenomena to develop, {\it e.g.}, acoustic amplifiers or sound sources with a flexible spin dependent orientation of the sound propagation.

7 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Dissipationless Quantum Spin Current at Room Temperature
• Nonlocal edge state transport in the quantum spin Hall state
• The Helical Liquid and the Edge of Quantum Spin Hall Systems
• Emergence of the persistent spin helix in semiconductor quantum wells
• Measurement of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit magnetic fields
• Anomalous Cherenkov spin-orbit sound
• Asymmetric Cherenkov acoustic reverse in topological insulators