Strong tuning of Rashba spin orbit interaction in single InAs nanowires

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates significant electric field control of Rashba spin orbit interaction in InAs nanowires, achieving large tunability of spin relaxation times with potential applications in spintronics.

Contribution

It introduces a method to strongly tune Rashba spin orbit interaction in InAs nanowires using electrolyte gating, enabling large modulation of spin properties.

Findings

Six-fold tuning of Rashba coefficient

Nearly three orders of magnitude change in spin relaxation time

Electric field control achieved with electrolyte gating

Abstract

A key concept in the emerging field of spintronics is the gate voltage or electric field control of spin precession via the effective magnetic field generated by the Rashba spin orbit interaction. Here, we demonstrate the generation and tuning of electric field induced Rashba spin orbit interaction in InAs nanowires where a strong electric field is created either by a double gate or a solid electrolyte surrounding gate. In particular, the electrolyte gating enables six-fold tuning of Rashba coefficient and nearly three orders of magnitude tuning of spin relaxation time within only 1 V of gate bias. Such a dramatic tuning of spin orbit interaction in nanowires may have implications in nanowire based spintronic devices.