Strain Effects on Rashba Spin‐Orbit Coupling of 2D Hole Gases in GeSn/Ge Heterostructures

Abstract A demonstration of 2D hole gases in GeSn/Ge heterostructures with a mobility as high as 20 000 cm 2 V −1 s −1 is given. Both the Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations and integer quantum Hall effect are observed, indicating high sample quality. The Rashba spin‐orbit coupling (SOC) is investigated via magneto‐transport. Further, a transition from weak localization to weak anti‐localization is observed, which shows the tunability of the SOC strength by gating. The magneto‐transport data are fitted to the Hikami–Larkin–Nagaoka formula. The phase‐coherence and spin‐relaxation times, as well as spin‐splitting energy and Rashba coefficient of the k ‐cubic term, are extracted. The analysis reveals that the effects of strain and confinement potential at a high fraction of Sn suppress the Rashba SOC caused by the GeSn/Ge heterostructures.