Thermodynamic properties of two-dimensional semiconductors with spin-orbit coupling

Authors

Feng Gao, University of WollongongFollow
Dieter Beaven, University of WollongongFollow
John A. Fulcher, University of WollongongFollow
C H Yang, Chinese Academy of ScienceFollow
Z Zeng, Chinese Academy of Science
Wen Xu, Australian National University
Chao Zhang, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

22644

Publication Details

Gao, F., Beaven, D., Fulcher, J. A., Yang, C., Zeng, Z., Xu, W. and Zhang, C. (2008). Thermodynamic properties of two-dimensional semiconductors with spin-orbit coupling. In 17th International Conference on Electronic Properties of Two-Dimensional Systems, 15-20 July 2007, Genova, Italy. Physica E, 40 (5), 1454-1456.

Abstract

We present a quantitative analysis on the effect of Rashba spinorbit interaction on the thermodynamic properties of two-dimensionalsemiconductors. Quantities such as the Helmholtz free energy, the electron internal energy, the electron entropy and the electron heatcapacity are calculated as a function of temperature and the spinorbit coupling strength. It is shown that the free energy decreases withthe spinorbit coupling while entropy increases with the spinorbit coupling. At the temperature of around 10% of Fermi temperature,the reduction of free energy due to Rashba coupling alone is round 15%.