  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 filling factors 1/5 and
1/7, where the FQH 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.
