Effects of external magnetic field on the electron Zitterbewegung in the quantum dots and wires with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study in this article the effects of external magnetic field on the electron Zitterbewegung in semiconductor quantum dots and wires with parabolic confinements and Rashba spin-orbit interaction. In doing so, we have calculated the dynamics of the expectation value of the position operator by means of the time evolution operator in an appropriate Hilbert space. The results show that the electron Zitterbewegung, its amplitude which is related to the electron confinement, and the period of the electron Zitterbewegung depend on the external magnetic field. We propose that the magnetic field can be used as an external agent to control the electron Zitterbewegung, a fundamental key for experimental detection of this phenomena. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.