Very Large Rashba Spin–Orbit Splitting in HgTe Quantum Wells

Abstract

A large Rashba spin splitting has been observed in the first conduction subband of n-type modulation doped HgTe quantum wells with an inverted band structure via an investigation of Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations as a function of gate voltage. Self-consistent Hartree calculations of the band structure based on an 8 × 8 k ⋅ p model quantitatively describe the experimental results. It has been shown that the heavy-hole nature of the H1 conduction subband greatly influences the spatial distribution of electrons in the quantum well and also enhances the Rashba spin splitting at large electron densities. These are unique features of type III heterostructures in the inverted band regime. The βk3∥ dispersion predicted by an analytical model is a good approximation of the self-consistent Hartree calculations for small values of the in-plane wave vector k∥. This is in contrast to the commonly used αk∥ dispersion for the conduction subband in type I heterojunctions.