Probing weak antilocalization in gate-defined semiconductor wires

Weak localization and weak antilocalization are macroscopic signatures of quantum interference in a low dimensional electron system. Quasi-one-dimensional semiconductor wires with large spin-orbit coupling are considered as a platform for exploring topological phases of matter and realizing majorana zero modes. Gate-defined wires grown using molecular beam epitaxy are expected to be less disordered than nanofabricated 1D structures or self-assembled nanowires. They also provide better control over carrier density. We study the spin-orbital properties of electrons in gate-defined InAs wires by comparing wires with different widths and orientations with respect to the crystal axes. In the presence of an in-plane magnetic field, one can extract information about spin-orbit coupling and spin texture by measuring the magnetoconductivity. The results are generalizable to all semiconductors with a zinc blende structure and are useful in different applications from spintronics to the physical realization of topological quantum computation.