Multiple Scattering Theory for Two-dimensional Electron Gases in the Presence of Spin-Orbit Coupling

Jamie D. Walls, Jian Huang, Robert M. Westervelt, Eric J. Heller

Published 2005-07-22, updated 2005-10-04Version 2

In order to model the phase-coherent scattering of electrons in two-dimensional electron gases in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling, a general partial-wave expansion is developed for scattering from a cylindrically symmetric potential. The theory is applied to possible electron flow imaging experiments using a moveable scanning probe microscope tip. In such experiments, it is demonstrated theoretically that the Rashba spin-orbit coupling can give rise to spin interference effects, even for unpolarized electrons at nonzero temperature and no magnetic field.