Tailoring hole spin splitting and polarization in nanowires

Spin splitting in p-type semiconductor nanowires is strongly affected by the interplay between quantum confinement and spin-orbit coupling in the valence band. The latter's particular importance is revealed in our systematic theoretical study presented here, which has mapped the range of spin-orbit coupling strengths realized in typical semiconductors. Large controllable variations of the g factor with associated characteristic spin polarization are shown to exist for nanowire subband edges, which therefore turn out to be a versatile laboratory for investigating the complex spin properties exhibited by quantum-confined holes. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.