Spin Precession of Quasi-Bound States in Heterostructures with Spin-Orbit Interaction

Abstract

We use a finite-difference model that is capable of describing the single state spin dynamics in a double-barrier AlGaAs heterostructure. The use of Green’s functions enables a description of the double-barrier structure by a finite matrix while the interaction with contacts is described by appropriate self-energies. To account for interface roughness scattering, a self-energy ΣIR(E, k) is derived within the random phase approximation. The dominant part is due to in-plane momentum relaxation while a smaller part describing spin-flip scattering is neglected. The former only decreases the state lifetime while the latter can also affect the spin precession frequency.