Optical properties of quantum wires: Rashba effect and external magnetic field

In the present paper, the optical properties of a InAs quasi-one-dimensional (1D) quantum wire are studied under an external magnetic field parallel to the z-direction and the Rashba spin orbit interaction (SOI). For this purpose, we have used analytical expressions for optical properties obtained by the compact-density matrix formalism. In this work, we have investigated the intersubband optical absorption coefficients and refractive index changes as a function of applied magnetic field (B) and strength of the SOI. According to the obtained results, it is found that (i) The total refractive index changes decrease and shift towards lower energies when the magnetic field and strength of the SOI increases. (ii) The total absorption coefficient decreases and shift towards lower energies as the magnetic field and strength of the SOI decreases. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.