Zitterbewegung of a heavy hole in presence of spin-orbit interactions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the zitterbewegung phenomenon of heavy holes under cubic Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions, revealing non-vanishing effects linked to Berry phase and potential experimental voltage detection.

Contribution

It demonstrates that zitterbewegung persists for equal Rashba and Dresselhaus interactions in heavy holes, unlike electrons, and connects this to Berry phase and spin precession effects.

Findings

Zitterbewegung does not vanish at equal Rashba and Dresselhaus strengths for heavy holes.

Spin precession induces a transverse spin-orbit force and electric voltage.

Estimated voltage magnitude suggests possible experimental detection.

Abstract

We study the $zitterbewegung$ of a heavy hole in presence of both cubic Rashba and cubic Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. On contrary to the electronic case, $zitterbewegung$ does not vanish for equal strength of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction. This non-vanishing of $zitterbewegung$ is associated with the Berry phase. Due to the presence of the spin-orbit coupling the spin associated with the heavy hole precesses about an effective magnetic field. This spin precession produces a transverse spin-orbit force which also generates an electric voltage associated with $zitterbewegung$. We have estimated the magnitude of this voltage for a possible experimental detection of $zitterbewegung$.