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Spin Hall and Edelstein effects in a ballistic quantum dot with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

by Alfonso Maiellaro, Francesco Romeo, Mattia Trama, Jacopo Settino, Claudio Guarcello, Carmine Antonio Perroni, Pawel Wójcik, Bartłomiej Szafran, Daniela Stornaiuolo, Marco Salluzzo, Thomas Sand Jespersen, Nicolas Bergeal, Manuel Bibes and Roberta Citro

Submission summary

Authors (as registered SciPost users):

Alfonso Maiellaro

Abstract

We study spin-resolved transport in a ballistic quantum dot with Rashba spin–orbit coupling, focusing on charge-to-spin conversion and spin Hall effect. In the regime where the dot size is comparable to the Fermi wavelength, we identify a clear crossover from weak localization to weak antilocalization as the Rashba coupling increases. This transition is accompanied by gate-tunable spin currents of Edelstein and spin Hall type, whose behavior reflects the underlying electron wavefunction interference. Notably, the Edelstein current shows an inflection point at the critical Rashba strength, signaling the crossover from weak localization to weak antilocalization. In the presence of an in-plane magnetic field we also report a transition in angular periodicity of the magnetoresistance–from π to 2π– arising from the interplay between spin–orbit interaction and Zeeman coupling. These results establish a direct link between quantum coherence, charge-tospin conversion, and geometric confinement in mesoscopic systems.

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• Present a breakthrough on a previously-identified and long-standing research stumbling block