Interplay of Rashba/Dresselhaus spin splittings

Abstract

The paper reviews the interplay of Rashba/Dresselhaus spin splittings in various two dimensional systems made of III-V, wurtzite and SiGe. We discuss the symmetry aspects of the linear and cubic in electron wavevector spin splitting in heterostructures prepared on (001)-, (110)-, (111)-, (113)-, (112)-, and (013)-oriented substrates and address the requirements for suppression of spin relaxation and realization of the persistent spin helix state. In experimental part of the paper we overview experimental results on the interplay of Rashba/Dresselhaus spin splittings probed by photogalvanic spectroscopy: the method based on the phenomenological equivalence of the linear-in-wavevector spin splitting and several photogalvanic phenomena.