Persistent oscillatory currents in a 1D ring with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions excited by a terahertz pulse

Persistent, oscillatory charge and spin currents are shown to be driven by a two-component terahertz laser pulse in a one-dimensional mesoscopic ring with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions (SOI) linear in the electron momentum. The characteristic interference effects result from the opposite precession directions imposed on the electron spin by the two SOI couplings. The time dependence of the currents is obtained by solving numerically the equation of motion for the density operator, which is later employed in calculating statistical averages of quantum operators on few electron eigenstates. The parameterization of the problem is done in terms of the SOI coupling constants and of the phase difference between the two laser components. Our results indicate that the amplitude of the oscillations is controlled by the relative strength of the two SOI's, while their frequency is determined by the difference between the excitation energies of the electron states. Furthermore, the oscillations of the spin current acquire a beating pattern of higher frequency that we associate with the nutation of the electron spin between the quantization axes of the two SOI couplings. This phenomenon disappears at equal SOI strengths, whereby the opposite precessions occur with the same probability.

► Persistent, oscillatory charge/spin currents are driven by a laser pulse in a 1D ring with spin–orbit interactions.
► The amplitude is controlled by the strength of the Rashba–Dresselhaus couplings.
► The frequency is determined by the excitation energies of the electron states.