This article is cited in 13 papers

CONDENSED MATTER

Zitterbewegung of spin split electrons

S. A. Tarasenko^a, A. V. Poshakinskiy^a, E. L. Ivchenko^a, I. Stepanov^b, M. Ersfeld^b, M. Lepsa^cd, B. Beschoten<sup>b

a</sup> Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
^b 2-nd Institute of Physics and Jülich Aachen Research Alliance – Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
^c Peter Grünberg Institut (PGI-9)
^d Jülich Aachen Research Alliance – Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany

Abstract: We describe the trembling motion of conduction-band electrons in solids. The effect originates from the fact that, in the presence of the Rashba/Dresselhaus spin–orbit coupling and the Zeeman splitting, the electron velocity is not a conserved quantity and contains a contribution oscillating at the frequency determined by the spin gap. The phenomenon is similar to the Zitterwebegung of relativistic particles. Trembling motion of individual electrons can be phase-synchronized by initializing the electrons in the same spin states and detected as a macroscopic high-frequency electric current, which is maintained in the system until the electron spin coherence is lost. We also show that the amplitude of such a coherent Zitterbewegung current is increased when its frequency matches the plasmon frequency.

Received: 23.07.2018

DOI: 10.1134/S0370274X18170083

 English version: Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters, 2018, 108:5, 326–328

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