Rashba Precession in Quantum Wires

The length over which electron spins reverse direction due to the Rashba effect when injected with an initial polarization along the axes of a quantum wire is investigated theoretically. A soft wall confinement of the wire renormalizes the spin–orbit parameter (and the effective mass) stronger than hard walls. Electron–electron interactions enhance the Rashba precession while evidence is found that the coupling between transport channels may suppress it.