Modular Approach to Spintronics [spintronics]

Module: Rashba Spin-Orbit

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Rasbha spin-orbit coupling in a semiconductor is a transport effect that acts as an “effective intrinsic magnetic field” in the material , similar to a Zeeman field due to an external magnetic field. One crucial difference, however, is this magnetic field is locked to the momentum of the electron, therefore changing direction when the flow of an electron changes, unlike a Zeeman field which is independent of the electron momentum. This effect is present in all materials, but is especially pronounced in heavy "atoms" such as a 2DEG GaAs.

Model Description

The circuit model for the module is shown below:

Model Equations and Conductances

The circuit model can be derived starting from the basic 2-port network equation:

For a 1D RSO channel these matrices are given as:

Note that $gif.latex?G_{12} neq G_{21}$ . As a result the circuit is non-reciprocal. To handle such reciprocal circuits we need dependent sources that can be seen in the circuit model. The conductances and voltage sources of the circuit model can be related to the 2-port matrices by:

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