Spin dynamics in tunneling decay of a metastable state

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin dynamics evolve during the tunneling decay of a metastable state with spin-orbit coupling, revealing new phenomena like diffraction-in-time and introducing the tunneling length as a key parameter.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of tunneling length and analyzes spin polarization effects during tunneling decay with spin-orbit coupling.

Findings

Short-time spin polarization depends on initial state

Long-time probability and spin density show diffraction-in-time

Tunneling length is independent of spin-orbit coupling and measurable via spin rotation

Abstract

We analyze spin dynamics in the tunneling decay of a metastable localized state in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. We find that the spin polarization at short time scales is affected by the initial state while at long time scales both the probability- and the spin density exhibit diffraction-in-time phenomenon. We find that in addition to the tunneling time the tunneling in general can be characterized by a new parameter, the tunneling length. Although the tunneling length is independent on the spin-orbit coupling, it can be accessed by the spin rotation measurement.