Spin splitting of two dimensional states in the conduction band of asymmetric heterostructures: contribution from the atomically sharp interface

The effect of an atomically sharp impenetrable interface on the spectrum spin splitting of two-dimensional electrons in asymmetric heterostructures has been analyzed. The single band Hamiltonian for envelope functions is supplemented by a boundary condition (BC) taking into account the possibility of the existence of Tamm states, the spin-orbit interaction, the bulk inversion asymmetry, and the asymmetry of a quantum well. BC contains the single phenomenological length R characterizing the structure of the interface at atomic scales. In the absence of magnetic field, the spin hamiltonian is the sum of the Dresselhaus and the Bychkov-Rashba terms with the constants renormalized owing to the interface contribution. In the field B containing the quantizing component Bz, the off components of the g-factor tensor are linear functions of |Bz| and the number of the Landau level N.