Emergence of the persistent spin helix in semiconductor quantum wells

J. D. Koralek (), C. P. Weber, J. Orenstein, B. A. Bernevig, Shou-Cheng Zhang, S. Mack and D. D. Awschalom
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J. D. Koralek: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
C. P. Weber: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
J. Orenstein: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
B. A. Bernevig: Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, USA
Shou-Cheng Zhang: Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
S. Mack: Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
D. D. Awschalom: Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 458, issue 7238, 610-613

Abstract: A persistent spin helix Just as a body moving in a vacuum tends to stay in motion, the axis of a spinning electron tends to remain fixed in direction. Both phenomena are conservation laws that ultimately derive from the uniformity of empty space. By contrast, an electron moving in a semiconductor sees a lattice of charged atoms flying past at nearly 1% of light speed, causing its spin direction to fluctuate wildly. Now Koralek et al. demonstrate that the application of an external electric field to a semiconductor can precisely balance the spin-destabilizing effect of the charged lattice. The collective spin of the entire gas of electrons, rather than that of each individual particle, then emerges as a new conserved quantity — a property well suited for 'spintronics' applications.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07871

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