Shape-dependent charge and spin transport through an electron waveguide

We study electron transport in nanosized semiconductor waveguides of different shapes. The spin-dependent transport through these nonuniform nanostructures is investigated in the presence of spin-orbit coupling of the Rashba and Dresselhaus types. The resulting spin rotation strongly depends on the shape of the waveguide. The crossover from the classical motion to the tunneling regime can be controlled in the waveguide with narrowing by modulating the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4788714]