Spontaneous emergence of a persistent spin helix from homogeneous spin polarization

We demonstrate that a homogeneous spin polarization in one-dimensional structures of finite length in the presence of Bychkov-Rashba spin-orbit coupling decays spontaneously toward a persistent spin helix. Such a strikingly different and simple method enables us to generate robust spin structures whose properties can be tuned by the strength of the spin-orbit interaction and/or the structure's length. We generalize our results for the two-dimensional case predicting the formation of a persistent spin helix in two-dimensional channels from homogeneous spin polarization. An analysis of the formation of a spin helical state is presented within an approach based on a mapping of spin drift-diffusion equations into a heat equation for a complex field.