Electrons in Quasi-1D Waveguides with the Spin–Orbit Interaction: Manifestations of Additional Spin Symmetry

Abstract

We consider quasi-one-dimensional electron waveguides with spin–orbit interaction, which are formed in quantum wells grown along arbitrary crystallographic directions. An analytic solution to the Schrödinger equation is obtained for systems with Hamiltonians possessing additional spin symmetry. It is shown that the dispersion curves for electrons, which correspond to different size-quantization modes, can intersect only when such symmetry exists. We analyze the structure of dips appearing on the dependences of the conductance of an inhomogeneous waveguide on the energy of carriers. It is shown that the width of the dips substantially depends on the waveguide orientation in the plane of the quantum well. In particular, it vanishes when the waveguide is formed along the direction of the “magic” vector of the initial 2D system.