Charge and spin conductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas with random Rashba interaction

Abstract

We calculate the transport relaxation time $τ_{\rm tr}$ and spin transport relaxation time $τ_{s,{\rm tr}}$ for a two-dimensional electron gas with spatially fluctuating Rashba spin-orbit interaction. These relaxation times determine the electrical and spin conductivity of the two-dimensional system, respectively. It is shown that the transport relaxation time $τ_{\rm tr}$ is a nonmonotonic function of electron energy $\varepsilon $, whereas the spin transport relaxation time $τ_{s,{\rm tr}}$ decreases with increasing $\varepsilon $, similarly to the conventional electron relaxation time $τ$ that characterizes the decay of an electron state corresponding to certain values of the momentum and spin. Such a behavior of the relaxation times leads to unusual temperature dependence of the electrical and spin conductivity.