Transport properties of low-dimensional semiconductor structures in the presence of spin–orbit interaction

Transport properties of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) and of quantum wires are theoretically studied in the presence of both Rashba and Dresselhaus terms of the spin–orbit interaction (SOI). Fully quantum mechanical expressions for the conductivity are evaluated for very low temperatures and the differences between them and previous semiclassical results are highlighted. Two kinds of confining potentials in quantum wires are considered, square-type and parabolic. Various cases depending on the relative strengths of two different SOI terms are discussed and the relaxation times for various impurity potentials are evaluated. In addition, the spin accumulation in a 2DEG and in a quantum wire (QW) is evaluated semiclassically and its dependence on the Fermi energy and the SOI strengths is discussed. A nearly saw-tooth dependence on the electron concentration is obtained for a QW with parabolic confinement.