Curvature effects in the band structure of carbon nanotubes including spin-orbit coupling.

The Kane-Mele model was previously used to describe effective spin-orbit couplings (SOCs) in graphene. Here we extend this model and also incorporate curvature effects to analyze the combined influence of SOC and curvature on the band structure of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The extended model then reproduces the chirality-dependent asymmetric electron-hole splitting for semiconducting CNTs and in the band structure for metallic CNTs shows an opening of the band gap and a change of the Fermi wave vector with spin. For chiral semiconducting CNTs with large chiral angle we show that the spin-splitting configuration of bands near the Fermi energy depends on the value of mod(2n + m, 3).

Microscopic analysis of the coherent optical generation and the decay of charge and spin currents in semiconductor heterostructures.

The coherent optical injection and temporal decay of spin and charge currents in semiconductor heterostructures is described microscopically, including excitonic effects, many-body Coulomb correlations, and the carrier LO-phonon coupling on the second-order Born-Markov level, as well as nonperturbative light-field-induced intraband and interband excitations. A nonmonotonic dependence of the currents on the intensities of the laser beams is predicted. Enhanced damping of the spin current relative to the charge current is obtained as a consequence of Coulomb scattering.