Coupling of electron rotation with spin in semiconductors

Abstract

Account of an intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in the valence bands of common semiconductors yields the scalar spin-orbit-rotation term in the effective-mass Hamiltonian of the conduction-band electron. This result is obtained within the multiband envelope function approximation. Fundamentally, the spin-orbit-rotation coupling can be described in purely geometric terms as a consequence of the difference in the Berry phase acquired by the components of the spin-orbitally mixed Kramers-doublet during its cyclic evolution in the reciprocal momentum space.