SPIN HALL EFFECTS IN HgTe QUANTUM WELL STRUCTURES

Abstract

Due to a strong spin orbit interaction HgTe quantum well structures exhibit an unusual subband structure ordering which leads to some remarkable transport properties depending on the actual carrier density. Especially for quantum wells with an inverted band structure ordering, a strong Rashba-type spin orbit splitting gives rise to a strong spin Hall effect in the metallic regime and in the bulk insulating regime spin polarized edge channel transport leads to the formation of the quantum spin Hall effect. Gated quantum well structures have been used to explore these, the metallic and insulating, transport regimes experimentally.