The influence of spin-orbit coupling in two-dimensional systems is investigated within the framework of the Landauer-Büttiker coherent scattering formalism. This formalism usually deals with spin-independent stationary states and, therefore, it does not include a spin-orbit contribution to the current. In this article, we will rederive the coherent scattering formalism, accounting for the changes brought about by the spin-orbit coupling. After a short review of the features of spinorbit coupling in two-dimensional electron gases, we define the creation/annihilaton operators in the stationary states of the spin-orbit coupling Hamiltonian and use them to calculate the current operator within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism. The current is expressed as it is in the standard spin-independent case, but with the spin label replaced by a new label which we call the spin-orbit coupling label. The spin-orbit coupling effects can then be represented in a scattering matrix which relates the spin-orbit coupling stationary states in different leads. This scattering matrix is calculated in the case of a four-port beamsplitter, and it is shown to mix states with different spin-orbit coupling labels in a manner that depends on the angle between the leads. The formalism is then used to calculate the effect of spin-orbit coupling on the current and noise in two examples of electron collision.

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We study the tunneling current between two counterpropagating edge modes described by chiral Luttinger liquids when the tunneling takes place along an extended region. We compute this current perturbatively by using a tunnel Hamiltonian. Our results apply to the case of a pair of different two-dimensional electron gases in the fractional quantum Hall regime separated by a barrier, e. g. electron tunneling. We also discuss the case of strong interactions between the edges, leading to nonuniversal exponents even in the case of integer quantum Hall edges. In addition to the expected nonlinearities due to the Luttinger properties of the edges, there are additional interference patterns due to the finite length of the barrier.