Eur. Phys. J. B (2013) 86: 366
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-40488-1

Regular Article

Graphene with time-dependent spin-orbit coupling: truncated Magnus expansion approach

¹ Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Regensburg, 93040 Regensburg, Germany
² School of Physical Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, P.R. China

^a e-mail: alexander.lopez@physik.uni-regensburg.de

Received: 14 May 2013
Received in final form: 9 July 2013
Published online: 2 September 2013

Abstract

We analyze the role of an ac-driven Rashba spin-orbit coupling in monolayer graphene including a spin-dependent mass term. Using the Magnus expansion as a semi-analytical approximation scheme a full account of the quasienergie spectrum of spin states is given. We discuss the subtleties arising in correctly applying the Magnus expansion technique in order to determine the quasienergy spectrum. Comparison to the exact numerical solution gives appropriate boundaries to the validity of the Magnus expansion solution.