The effects of Dresselhaus and Rashba spin–orbit interactions on the electron tunneling in a non-magnetic heterostructure

We theoretically investigate the electron transport properties in a non-magnetic heterostructure with both Dresselhaus and Rashba spin–orbit interactions. The detailed-numerical results show that (1) the large spin polarization can be achieved due to Dresselhaus and Rashba spin–orbit couplings induced splitting of the resonant level, although the magnetic field is zero in such a structure, (2) the Rashba spin–orbit coupling plays a greater role on the spin polarization than the Dresselhaus spin–orbit interaction does, and (3) the transmission probability and the spin polarization both periodically change with the increase of the well width.