Influence of spin–orbit interactions on the polaron properties in wurtzite semiconductor quantum well

•We have studied the effects of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on the polaron properties in wurtzite GaN quantum well.•The electron-phonon interaction and polaron mass correction are both significantly enhanced by the spin-orbit coupling.•For the interface optical phonon modes polaron self-energy takes the big values than for the confined optical phonon modes.•The polaron effective mass exhibits anisotropy.•The contribution of the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling term in the polaron effective mass is larger than Rashba one.

We have study the simultaneous effect of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions on the polaron properties in wurtzite semiconductor quantum wells. The linear and cubic contributions of the bulk Dresselhaus spin–orbit coupling and the effects of phonon confinement on electron–optical-phonon interaction Hamiltonians are taken into account. We have found analytical solutions for the polaron energies as well as polaron effective mass within the range of validity of perturbation theory. It is shown that the polaron energy and effective mass correction are both significantly enhanced by the spin–orbit coupling. Wave number dependent phonon contribution on the electron energy has minima and varies differently of the spin-up and spin-down states. Polaron self-energy due to interface optical phonon modes has larger values than of the confined optical phonon modes ones. The polaron effective mass exhibits anisotropy and the contribution of the Dresselhaus spin–orbit coupling term on the polaron effective mass is dominated by Rashba one.

Graphical abstractIn this paper, we focus attention on the simultaneous effect of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit interactions on the polaron properties in wurtzite GaN/AlN semiconductor quantum well. The linear and cubic contributions of the bulk Dresselhaus SO coupling and the effects of phonon confinement on electron–PO phonon interaction Hamiltonians are taken into account. We have found analytical solutions for the polaronic states as well as polaron effective mass within the range of validity of perturbation theory. Fig. 1 The polaron (1) and electron (2) ground state energies as a function of the magnitude k in the presence of both SO coupling terms at λ=±1. Fig. 2 Polaronic effective mass as a function of the Rashba (a) and Dresselhaus (b) SO interaction strength at λ=±1.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide