Photon-assisted electron transmission resonance through a quantum well with spin-orbit coupling

TL;DR

This paper investigates how an oscillating field influences electron transmission through a quantum well with spin-orbit coupling, revealing controllable spin-polarized currents and resonance features for potential spin filter applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates that external oscillation fields can tune Fano resonance features and induce spin-polarized currents in quantum wells with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling.

Findings

Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling causes Fano resonance splitting.

External field parameters control resonance line shape.

Resonance splitting enables spin-polarized electron currents.

Abstract

Using the effective-mass approximation and Floquet theory, we study the electron transmission over a quantum well in semiconductor heterostructures with Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling and an applied oscillation field. It is demonstrated by the numerical evaluations that Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling eliminates the spin degeneracy and leads to the splitting of asymmetric Fano-type resonance peaks in the conductivity. In turn, the splitting of Fano-type resonance induces the spin- polarization-dependent electron-current. The location and line shape of Fano-type resonance can be controlled by adjusting the oscillation frequency and the amplitude of external field as well. These interesting features may be a very useful basis for devising tunable spin filters.