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Abstract

The effect of spin-orbit (and Darwin) interaction on a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas subject to a radial symmetric, inhomogeneous 1/r magnetic field is discussed analytically in a perturbative and nonperturbative manner. For this purpose, we investigate the radial Hall conductivity that emerges from an additional homogeneous electric field perturbation perpendicular to the 2D electron gas, which solely interacts via spin-orbit coupling. Numerical calculations of the absorptive spin-orbit spectra show for an ideal InSb electron gas a behavior that is dominated by the localized (atomic) part of the distorted Landau levels. In contrast, however, we also find analytically that a (nonlocal) divergent static response emerges for Fermi energies close to the ionization energy in the thermodynamic limit. The divergent linear response implies that the external electric field is entirely absorbed outside the 2D electron gas by induced radial spin-orbit currents, as it would be the case inside a perfect conductor. This spin-orbit induced polarization mechanism depends on the effective g^∗ factor of the material for which it shows a critical behavior at g^∗c=2, where it abruptly switches direction. The diverging absorption relies on the presence of degenerate energies with allowed selection rules that are imposed by the radial symmetry of our inhomogeneous setup. We show analytically the presence of a discrete Rydberg-like band structure that obeys these symmetry properties. While in our case this structure turns out to be of minor relevance, it is a promising property, which may facilitate the experimental realization in the future. In a last step, we investigate the robustness of the spectra by solving analytically the Dirac equation expanded up to order 1/(mc)². We find that the distorted Landau levels, and thus the divergent spin-orbit polarization, remain protected with respect to slow changes of the applied 1/r magnetic field.