Electromagnetic Pulse Driven Spin-dependent Currents in Semiconductor Quantum Rings

We investigate the non-equilibrium charge and spin-dependent currents in a quantum ring with a Rashba spin orbit interaction (SOI) driven by two asymmetric picosecond electromagnetic pulses. The equilibrium persistent charge and persistent spin-dependent currents are investigated as well. It is shown that the dynamical charge and the dynamical spin-dependent currents vary smoothly with a static external magnetic flux and the SOI provides a SU(2) effective flux that changes the phases of the dynamic charge and the dynamic spin-dependent currents. The period of the oscillation of the total charge current with the delay time between the pulses is larger in a quantum ring with a larger radius. The parameters of the pulse fields control to a certain extent the total charge and the total spin-dependent currents. The calculations are applicable to nano-meter rings fabricated in heterojuctions of III-V and II-VI semiconductors containing several hundreds electrons.