PHYSICS: RESEARCHERS AT YEREVAN STATE UNIVERSITY RELEASE NEW DATA ON PHYSICS

Science Letter
July 21, 2009

"Spin-orbit coupling-induced anisotropies of plasmon dynamics
are investigated in two-dimensional semiconductor structures,"
investigators in Yerevan, Armenia report (see also Physics).

"The interplay of the linear Bychkov-Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit
interactions drastically affects the plasmon spectrum: the dynamical
structure factor exhibits variations over several decades, prohibiting
plasmon propagation in specific directions. While this plasmon
filtering makes the presence of spin-orbit coupling in plasmon dynamics
observable, it also offers a control tool for plasmonic devices,"
wrote S.M. Badalyan and colleagues, Yerevan State University.

The researchers concluded: "Remarkably, if the strengths of the two
interactions are equal, not only the anisotropy but all the traces of
the linear spin-orbit coupling in the collective response disappear.."

Badalyan and colleagues published their study in Physical Review B
(Anisotropic plasmons in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit
interaction. Physical Review B, 2009;79(20):5305).

For additional information, contact S.M. Badalyan, Yerevan State
University, Dept. of Radiophys, 1A Manoukian St., Yerevan 375025,
Armenia.

The publisher of the journal Physical Review B can be contacted
at: American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, College Pk,
MD 20740-3844, USA.