Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Spintronics (2nd Edition)

This second edition of the book presents spintronic properties of III–V nitride semiconductors. As wide bandgap III-nitride nanostructures are relatively new materials, the book pays particular attention to the difference between zinc-blende GaAs- and wurtzite GaN-based structures where the Rashba spin–orbit interaction plays a crucial role in voltage-controlled spin engineering. It also deals with topological insulators and discusses electrically driven zero-magnetic-field spin-splitting of surface electrons with respect to the specifics of electron-localized spin interaction and voltage-controlled ferromagnetism. It describes the recently identified zero-gap state—an anomalous quantum semimetal. The book comprises calculation of topological indexes in semiconductor and semimetal phases. It compares results that follow from the low-energy model and the Bernevig–Huges–Zhang model, which accounts for the full-Brillouin-zone electron spectrum. It also discusses the fractional quantization of Hall conductance and performs the direct calculation of Chern numbers for the inverted GaN/InN quantum well, determining topological properties by Chern number |C |=2.