Abstract
Transport measurements in inverted quantum wells reveal a giant spin-orbit splitting of the energy bands close to the hybridization gap. The splitting results from the interplay of electron-hole mixing and spin-orbit coupling, and can exceed the hybridization gap. We experimentally investigate the band splitting as a function of top gate voltage for both electronlike and holelike states. Unlike conventional, noninverted two-dimensional electron gases, the Fermi energy in can cross a single spin-resolved band, resulting in full spin-orbit polarization. In the fully polarized regime we observe exotic transport phenomena such as quantum Hall plateaus evolving in steps and a nontrivial Berry phase.
- Received 4 May 2016
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.016801
© 2017 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Synopsis
Flip-Flopping the Bands
Published 5 January 2017
A pair of semiconductor quantum wells with an inverted band structure hosts electrons whose spins are almost all in the same quantum state.
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