Separation of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions using crystal direction dependent transport measurements

Abstract

The Rashba spin-orbit interaction effective field is always in the plane of the two-dimensional electron gas and perpendicular to the carrier wavevector but the direction of the Dresselhaus field depends on the crystal orientation. These two spin-orbit interaction parameters can be determined separately by measuring and analyzing the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations for various crystal directions. In the InAs quantum well system investigated, the Dresselhaus term is just 5% of the Rashba term. The gate dependence of the oscillation patterns clearly shows that only the Rashba term is modulated by an external electric field. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.