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Quantum and transport lifetimes of a two‐dimensional hole gas in the presence of spin–orbit interaction
Author(s) -
Xu W.,
Vasilopoulos P.,
Wang X. F.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.200402018
Subject(s) - spin (aerodynamics) , scattering , condensed matter physics , impurity , silicon on insulator , fermi gas , electron , quantum , chemistry , spin–orbit interaction , quantum well , range (aeronautics) , physics , materials science , silicon , optoelectronics , quantum mechanics , laser , composite material , thermodynamics
We present a simple theoretical approach for evaluating the spin‐dependent carrier distribution as well as quantum and transport lifetimes in a two‐dimensional hole gas (2DHG) in the presence of spin–orbit interaction (SOI) induced by the Rashba effect. For low temperatures and over a wide range of the sample parameters, the SOI can enhance the mobility of the sample system and the quantum and transport lifetimes of a 2DHG due to background‐impurity scattering do not differ significantly between different spin branches. These are mainly due to the unique features of the hole‐impurity scattering in the presence of the SOI. A small difference of the quantum lifetimes in different spin branches has been observed experimentally in spin‐split two‐dimensional electron gas systems. Our results indicate that this interesting observation can be made in spin‐split 2DHGs as well. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)