@article{RotheReinthalerLiuetal.2010, author = {Rothe, D. G. and Reinthaler, R. W. and Liu, C-X and Molenkamp, L. W. and Zhang, S-C and Hankiewicz, E. M.}, title = {Fingerprint of different spin-orbit terms for spin transport in HgTe quantum wells}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-68362}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Using k ยท p theory, we derive an effective four-band model describing the physics of the typical two-dimensional topological insulator (HgTe/CdTe quantum well (QW)) in the presence of an out-of-plane (in the z-direction) inversion breaking potential and an in-plane potential. We find that up to third order in perturbation theory, only the inversion breaking potential generates new elements to the four-band Hamiltonian that are off-diagonal in spin space. When this new effective Hamiltonian is folded into an effective twoband model for the conduction (electron) or valence (heavy hole) bands, two competing terms appear: (i) a Rashba spin-orbit interaction originating from inversion breaking potential in the z-direction and (ii) an in-plane Pauli term as a consequence of the in-plane potential. Spin transport in the conduction band is further analysed within the Landauer-B{\"u}ttiker formalism. We find that for asymmetrically doped HgTe QWs, the behaviour of the spin-Hall conductance is dominated by the Rashba term.}, subject = {Physik}, language = {en} }