Tuning of the Gap in a Laughlin-Bychkov-Rashba Incompressible Liquid

We report on our investigation of the influence of Bychkov-Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI) on the incompressible Laughlin state. We find that experimentally obtainable values of the spin-orbit coupling strength can induce as much as a 25% increase in the quasiparticle-quasihole gap Eg at low magnetic fields in InAs, thereby increasing the stability of the liquid state. The SOI-modulated enhancement of Eg is also significant for ν=1/5 and 1/7, where the fractional quantum Hall state is usually weak. This raises the intriguing possibility of tuning, via the SO coupling strength, the liquid to solid transition to much lower densities.