Decoherence of spin states induced by Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We investigate the spin-orbit (SO) coupling effect on phase coherence of spin states for electrons confined to one-dimensional nanowires (NWs). It has been shown that SO interactions destroy coherent superpositios of spin states leading to states with nonzero entropy. Relationships between the von Neumann entropy and experimental characteristics of the spin are investigated for a single-and two electron systems. The dependence of a degree of decoherence on the Rashba coupling constant is determined analytically. New aspects of transport properties of a quasi-one-dimensional NW have been also studied.