All-electrical manipulation of electron spin in a semiconductor nanotube

• The modification of spin in the semiconductor nanotube has been presented.
• We present analytical solutions with the Rashba spin–orbit interaction.
• The radial electric field results in the precession of electron spin.
• The longitudinal electric field generates the spin oscillation beats along the nanotube.

A controlled manipulation of electron spin states has been investigated for a cylindrical two-dimensional electron gas confined in a semiconductor nanotube/cylindrical nanowire with the Rashba spin–orbit interaction. We present analytical solutions for the two limiting cases, in which the spin–orbit interaction results from (A) the radial electric field and (B) the electric field applied along the z-axis of the nanotube. In the case (A), we have found that only the superposition of bands with the same orbital momentum leads to the spin precession around the cylinder (nanotube) axis. In the case (B), we have obtained the damped oscillations of the z spin component with the period that changes as a function of the coordinate z. We have shown that the damped oscillations of the average value of the z spin component form beats localized along the nanotube axis. The position of the beats can be controlled by the bias voltage.