Ballistic-electron coherent spin precession in a Rashba two-dimensional electron system

The prodigious career of E. I. Rashba produced numerous creative and novel theoretical discoveries. One contribution that has had significant impact is his theoretical explanation of spin-orbit effects that arise from materials and heterostructures that are characterized by a structural asymmetry. This theory has created entire subfields in condensed matter physics. The focus of this paper is the empirical demonstration of one topic in one of these subfields. Spin-polarized carriers injected into a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system with a Rashba spin-orbit interaction will exhibit conductance oscillations over a length scale of a ballistic mean free path. Two separate experimental demonstrations are discussed.