Anisotropic spin dynamics in semiconductor narrow wires from the interplay between spin-orbit interaction and planar magnetic field

Abstract

The anisotropic spin dynamics in wires based on a [001]-oriented semiconductor quantum well were investigated to determine the effect of applying an in-plane magnetic field both parallel to and perpendicular to the spin-orbit magnetic field, and the interaction between them. In one-dimensional spin motion where the wire width is less than the spin-precession length, it is known that the global spin precession is essentially determined by the spin-orbit induced precession along the wire direction. In this study, our objective is to investigate the nature of anisotropic spin dynamics in such narrow semiconductor wires along various crystal orientations. We proposed an analytic expression for the anisotropic spin-relaxation rates and the Larmor-precession frequencies for the arbitrary magnetic field orientation based on a theoretical understanding of the spin dynamics in the narrow wire structure. This expression describes the interaction between the spin-orbit field and all orientations of the in-plane magnetic field. We experimentally investigated the spin dynamics for lithographically defined 800-nm-width wires oriented along the $[\overline{1}10]$, [100], and [110] crystal orientations using a [001] GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well. Time-resolved Kerr rotation microscopy measurements indicated that the spin-relaxation time was the longest for the in-plane magnetic field perpendicular to the spin-orbit field, whereas the parallel configuration was found to be the shortest among all the directions. The precession frequency was found to have the opposite symmetry. These relations are well explained by the theoretical considerations developed in this work. Because the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit fields are mutually orthogonal in the [100] crystal orientation, it is possible to evaluate both spin-orbit coefficients from the precession anisotropy. These findings suggest that it is possible to control the spin state in narrow wires approaching the one-dimensional state and evaluate the spin-orbit coefficient. This has the potential to provide a greater understanding of quantum and topological information in semiconductor one-dimensional wires.