Polarization-induced Rashba spin-orbit coupling in structurally symmetric III-Nitride quantum wells

Abstract

The effective linear coupling coefficient and the total spin-splitting are calculated in Ga- and N- face InGaN quantum wells. Alloy content, geometry, and gate voltage affect an internal field and an electron density distribution in the growth direction that has direct effect on a spin-splitting. The sign of structural inversion asymmetry (SIA) spin-orbit coupling coefficient depends on an internal electric field in the well that results in different signs for Ga-face and N-face III-Nitride structures. The effective linear coupling coefficient is always positive because of the Dresselhaus-type contribution that is a major one in quantum wells under consideration. The magnitude of the spin-splitting is comparable with that experimentally observed in III-Nitrides and III-V zinc-blende structures.