Spin-density induced by electromagnetic wave in two-dimensional electron gas with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings

Abstract

We consider the magnetic response of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling to a microwave excitation. We generalize the results of [A. Shnirman and I. Martin, Europhys. Lett. 78, 27001 (2007).], where pure Rashba coupling was studied. We observe that the microwave with the in-plane electric field and the out-of-plane magnetic field creates an out-of-plane spin polarization. The effect is more prominent in clean systems with resolved spin-orbit-split subbands. Considered as response to the microwave magnetic field, the spin-orbit contribution to the magnetization far exceeds the usual Zeeman contribution in the clean limit. The effect vanishes when the Rashba and the Dresselhaus couplings have equal strength.