Spin-dependent tunneling through a spin-orbit-split barrier

We consider spin-dependent tunneling through a gallium arsenide barrier, a material which has no inversion symmetry. We are dealing with free electrons, with one effective mass and a spin-splitting in the barrier material. When we take into account both the spin-orbit interaction and the absence of the inversion symmetry, the evanescent states in the barrier are spin split and the tunneling process can become rather involved: Depending on the crystallographic direction, the incident wave experiences spin filtering during the tunneling or a spin precession around an effective magnetic field. These results open stimulating perspectives for spin manipulation in tunnel devices.