Regensburg 2002 – scientific programme

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HL: Halbleiterphysik

HL 38: Poster 2

HL 38.63: Poster

Thursday, March 14, 2002, 16:30–19:00, Poster A

Spin-orbit coupling and lateral superlattices — •Michael Langenbuch, Michael Suhrke, and Ulrich Rössler — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany

The Rashba spin-orbit coupling plays a key role in spintronics as it allows to manipulate the electron spin by an external electric field. Here we study the influence of the Rashba term on spin dependent magnetotransport of 2d electrons in a lateral electrostatic superlattice. This system allows us to analyze the effect of spin-orbit coupling on cyclotron orbits by its manifestation in the low-field magneto oscillations. Using the quantum mechanical concept of magnetic minibands we evaluate Kubo’s formula for the conductivity in dependence on the applied magnetic field. Impurity scattering is included in the self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA). In order to do so properly in the presence of spin-orbit coupling we have to extend the standard SCBA by introducing a spin-dependent self-energy. As a consequence we find that the crossing of Landau levels induced by the Rashba term modifies the magneto-conductivity even in the high temperature limit. In addition we show that the spin-orbit interaction gives rise to a modification of the well-known low-field magneto resistance oscillations in lateral superlattices.