Curved One-Dimensional Wire with Rashba Coupling as a Spin Switch

We propose a semiconductor structure that can switch the electron spin using the interplay between the Rashba effect and geometry of the system. In detail, the structure consists of a strongly curved one-dimensional ballistic wire with intrinsic spin-orbit interactions. Here, in contrast to the previous proposals based on the straight quantum channels, the spin-switching is achievable even if the electrons are in the eigen state and spin-precession does not occur. Using parameters relevant for InAs we investigate the tunability of this effect by means of external electric and magnetic fields.