Probing persistent spin textures through nonlinear magnetotransport
Persistent spin textures (PST) are special spin configurations in spin-orbit-coupled systems in which the spin polarization acquires a symmetry-enforced momentum-independent orientation, leading to exceptionally long spin lifetimes and persistent spin helices. Identifying direct experimental probes of PST, however, remains challenging because conventional quantum-geometric responses are strongly suppressed in this regime. Here, we show that PST systems isolate spin-rotation quantum geometry, which manifests through distinctive nonlinear magnetotransport responses. Using both a fine-tuned Rashba-Dresselhaus two-dimensional electron gas and a symmetry-enforced cubic spin-splitting model realizing PST, we demonstrate that PST suppresses conventional and Zeeman quantum-geometric contributions, leaving the spin-rotation quantum geometric tensor as the sole source of nonlinear magnetic-current and spin-magnetization responses. Remarkably, the nonvanishing response components exhibit identical direction-independent behavior as a function of chemical potential, providing a distinctive signature of PST. We further show that, in the Rashba-Dresselhaus two-dimensional electron gas at the PST point, these qualitative signatures remain robust even in the presence of a cubic Dresselhaus term that breaks the exact SU(2) symmetry. Our results establish nonlinear magnetotransport as an experimentally accessible probe of PST and their underlying spin-rotation quantum geometry.
Authors
- Kush Saha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9578-8897)
- Snehasish Nandy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8179-8947)
- Akash Dey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2089-7553)
- Sudeep Kumar Ghosh
- Neelanjan Chakraborti
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. B./Physical review. B
- Published
- 2026-11-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/772t-pw48
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Quantum and electron transport phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.30
Funders
- Arthritis National Research Foundation
- National Research Foundation
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India
- Science and Engineering Research Board