Spin-orbit coupling in wurtzite heterostructures

Abstract

Effective spin-orbit (SO) Hamiltonians for conduction electrons in wurtzite heterostructures are lacking in the literature, in contrast to zincblende structures. Here we address this issue by deriving such an effective Hamiltonian valid for quantum wells, wires, and dots with arbitrary confining potentials and external magnetic fields. We start from an 8$\times$8 Kane model accounting for the $s$--$p_z$ orbital mixing important to wurtzite structures, but absent in zincblende, and apply both quasi-degenerate perturbation theory (L\"owdin partitioning) and the folding down approach to derive an effective 2$\times$2 electron Hamiltonian. We obtain the usual $k$-linear Rashba term arising from the structural inversion asymmetry of the wells and, differently from zincblende structures, a bulk Rashba-type term induced by the inversion asymmetry of the wurtzite lattice. We also find linear- and cubic-in-momentum Dresselhaus contributions. Both the bulk Rashba-type term and the Dresselhaus terms originate exclusively from the admixture of $s$- and $p_z$-like states in wurtzites structures. Interestingly, in these systems the linear Rashba and the Dresselhaus terms have the same symmetry and can in principle cancel each other out completely, thus making the spin a conserved quantity. We determine the intrasubband (intersubband) Rashba $\alpha_\nu$ ($\eta$) and linear Dresselhaus $\beta_\nu$ ($\Gamma$) SO strengths of GaN/AlGaN single and double wells with one and two occupied subbands ($\nu=1,2$). We believe our general effective Hamiltonian for electrons in wurtzite heterostructures put forward here, should stimulate additional theoretical works on wurtzite quantum wells, wires, and dots with variously defined geometries and external magnetic fields.