Gate voltage dependent Rashba spin splitting in hole transverse magnetic focussing

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates voltage-controlled Rashba spin splitting in hole systems via magnetic focusing, enabling in-situ manipulation of spin separation, and compares experimental results with theoretical predictions, revealing discrepancies that suggest further investigation.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control spin-dependent magnetic focusing peaks in hole systems using gate voltage, highlighting the complex behavior of Rashba spin-orbit interaction.

Findings

Focussing peak splitting can be tuned with gate voltage.

Measured splitting exceeds theoretical predictions.

Further research needed to understand spin-dependent magnetic focusing.

Abstract

Magnetic focussing of charge carriers in two-dimensional systems provides a solid state version of a mass spectrometer. In the presence of a spin-orbit interaction, the first focussing peak splits into two spin dependent peaks, allowing focussing to be used to measure spin polarisation and the strength of the spin-orbit interaction. In hole systems, the k^3 dependence of the Rashba spin-orbit term allows the spatial separation of spins to be changed in-situ using a voltage applied to an overall top gate. Here we demonstrate that this can be used to control the splitting of the magnetic focussing peaks. Additionally, we compare the focussing peak splitting to that predicted by Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and k.p bandstructure calculations. We find that the focussing peak splitting is consistently larger than expected, suggesting further work is needed on understanding spin dependent magnetic focussing.