Spin control in semiconductor quantum wires: Rashba and Dresselhaus interaction

We show that spin precession in a semiconductor quantum wire, caused by the Rashba and the Dresselhaus interactions (both of arbitrary strengths), can be suppressed by dint of an in-plane magnetic field. Using a condition of the translational invariance in the longitudinal coordinate, we found another type of symmetry, which arises at a particular set of intensity and orientation of the magnetic field and explains this suppression. Based on our findings, we propose a transport experiment to measure the strengths of the Rashba and the Dresselhaus interactions.