Symmetry Breaking of the Persistent Spin Helix in Quantum Transport

Abstract

We exploit the high-symmetry spin state obtained for equal Rashba and linear Dresselhaus interactions to derive a closed-form expression for the weak localization magnetoconductivity -- the paradigmatic signature of spin-orbit coupling in quantum transport. The small parameter of the theory is the deviation from the symmetry state introduced by the mismatch of the linear terms and by the cubic Dresselhaus term. In this regime, we perform quantum transport experiments in GaAs quantum wells. Top and back gates allow independent tuning of the Rashba and Dresselhaus terms in order to explore the broken-symmetry regime where the formula applies. We present a reliable two-step method to extract all parameters from fits to the new expression, obtaining excellent agreement with recent experiments. This provides experimental confirmation of the new theory, and advances spin-orbit coupling towards a powerful resource in emerging quantum technologies.

arXiv comment13 pages, 6 figures, supplementary included on arXiv

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• A Unified Description of Spin Transport, Weak Antilocalization and Triplet Superconductivity in Systems with Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Spin drift-diffusion for two-subband quantum wells
• Low-symmetry nanowire cross-sections for enhanced Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction
• Weak localization at arbitrary disorder strength in systems with generic spin-dependent fields
• Charge-Spin Conversion in Two-Subband Quantum Wells with Conventional and Unconventional Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Reliable modeling of weak antilocalization for accurate spin-lifetime extraction