Theory of Edge States in Systems with Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling

Abstract

We study the edge states in a two dimensional electron gas with a transverse magnetic field and Rashba spin-orbit coupling. In the bulk, the interplay between the external field perpendicular to the gas plane and the spin-orbit coupling leads to two branches of states that, within the same energy window, have different cyclotron radii. For the edge states, surface reflection generates hybrid states with the two cyclotron radii. We analyze the spectrum and spin structure of these states and present a semiclassical picture of them.

7 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Transport equations for a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction
• Transverse Electron Focusing in Systems with Spin-Orbit Coupling

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Oscillatory multiband dynamics of free particles: The ubiquity of zitterbewegung effects
• Mechanical measurement of equilibrium spin currents in the Rashba medium
• Detection of spin polarized currents in quantum point contacts via transverse electron focusing
• Magnetic focusing of charge carriers from spin-split bands: Semiclassics of a Zitterbewegung effect
• Cyclotron motion and magnetic focusing in semiconductor quantum wells with spin-orbit coupling
• Magnetic breakdown of cyclotron orbits in systems with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling
• Edge Spin Current and Spin Polarization in Quantum Hall Regime
• Edge channel mixing induced by potential steps in an integer quantum Hall system
• Signatures of triplet superconductivity in nu=2-chiral Andreev states
• Magnetoelectric torque and edge currents caused by spin-orbit coupling
• Influence of device geometry and imperfections on the interpretation of transverse magnetic focusing experiments
• Spin transverse force and quantum transverse transport
• Magnetoelectric torque and edge currents in spin-orbit coupled graphene nanoribbons