49 research outputs found
Magnetic field effect on tunnel ionization of deep impurities by terahertz radiation
A suppression of tunnelling ionization of deep impurities in terahertz
frequency electric fields by a magnetic field is observed. It is shown that the
ionization probability at external magnetic field, B, oriented perpendicular to
the electric field of terahertz radiation, E, is substantially smaller than
that at B || E. The effect occurs at low temperatures and high magnetic fields
Chirality effects in carbon nanotubes
We consider chirality related effects in optical, photogalvanic and
electron-transport properties of carbon nanotubes. We show that these
properties of chiral nanotubes are determined by terms in the electron
effective Hamiltonian describing the coupling between the electron wavevector
along the tube principal axis and the orbital momentum around the tube
circumference. We develop a theory of photogalvanic effects and a theory of
d.c. electric current, which is linear in the magnetic field and quadratic in
the bias voltage. Moreover, we present analytic estimations for the natural
circular dichroism and magneto-spatial effect in the light absorption.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figure
Pattern Formation in Semiconductors
In semiconductors, nonlinear generation and recombination processes of free carriers and nonlinear charge transport can give rise to non-equilibrium phase transitions. At low temperatures, the basic nonlinearity is due to the autocatalytic generation of free carriers by impact ionization of shallow impurities. The electric field accelerates free electrons, causing an abrupt increase in free carrier density at a critical electric field. In static electric fields, this nonlinearity is known to yield complex filamentary current patterns bound to electric contacts
Spin and energy transfer in nanocrystals without transport of charge
We describe a mechanism of spin transfer between individual quantum dots that
does not require tunneling. Incident circularly-polarized photons create
inter-band excitons with non-zero electron spin in the first quantum dot. When
the quantum-dot pair is properly designed, this excitation can be transferred
to the neighboring dot via the Coulomb interaction with either {\it
conservation} or {\it flipping} of the electron spin. The second dot can
radiate circularly-polarized photons at lower energy. Selection rules for spin
transfer are determined by the resonant conditions and by the strong spin-orbit
interaction in the valence band of nanocrystals. Coulomb-induced energy and
spin transfer in pairs and chains of dots can become very efficient under
resonant conditions. The electron can preserve its spin orientation even in
randomly-oriented nanocrystals.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Filtering spin with tunnel-coupled electron wave guides
We show how momentum-resolved tunneling between parallel electron wave guides
can be used to observe and exploit lifting of spin degeneracy due to Rashba
spin-orbit coupling. A device is proposed that achieves spin filtering without
using ferromagnets or the Zeeman effect.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTex
Magnetotransport in Two-Dimensional Electron Systems with Spin-Orbit Interaction
We present magnetotransport calculations for homogeneous two-dimensional
electron systems including the Rashba spin-orbit interaction, which mixes the
spin-eigenstates and leads to a modified fan-chart with crossing Landau levels.
The quantum mechanical Kubo formula is evaluated by taking into account
spin-conserving scatterers in an extension of the self-consistent Born
approximation that considers the spin degree of freedom. The calculated
conductivity exhibits besides the well-known beating in the Shubnikov-de Haas
(SdH) oscillations a modulation which is due to a suppression of scattering
away from the crossing points of Landau levels and does not show up in the
density of states. This modulation, surviving even at elevated temperatures
when the SdH oscillations are damped out, could serve to identify spin-orbit
coupling in magnetotransport experiments. Our magnetotransport calculations are
extended also to lateral superlattices and predictions are made with respect to
1/B periodic oscillations in dependence on carrier density and strength of the
spin-orbit coupling.Comment: 8 pages including 8 figures; submitted to PR
Temperature Dependent Zero-Field Splittings in Graphene
Graphene is a quantum spin Hall insulator with a 45 eV wide non-trivial
topological gap induced by the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. Even though this
zero-field spin splitting is weak, it makes graphene an attractive candidate
for applications in quantum technologies, given the resulting long spin
relaxation time. On the other side, the staggered sub-lattice potential,
resulting from the coupling of graphene with its boron nitride substrate,
compensates intrinsic spin-orbit coupling and decreases the non-trivial
topological gap, which may lead to the phase transition into trivial band
insulator state. In this work, we present extensive experimental studies of the
zero-field splittings in monolayer and bilayer graphene in a temperature range
2K-12K by means of sub-Terahertz photoconductivity-based electron spin
resonance technique. Surprisingly, we observe a decrease of the spin splittings
with increasing temperature. We discuss the origin of this phenomenon by
considering possible physical mechanisms likely to induce a temperature
dependence of the spin-orbit coupling. These include the difference in the
expansion coefficients between the graphene and the boron nitride substrate or
the metal contacts, the electron-phonon interactions, and the presence of a
magnetic order at low temperature. Our experimental observation expands
knowledge about the non-trivial topological gap in graphene.Comment: Main text with figures (20 pages) and Supplementary Information (14
pages) Accepted in Phys. Rev.
Spin-polarized current amplification and spin injection in magnetic bipolar transistors
The magnetic bipolar transistor (MBT) is a bipolar junction transistor with
an equilibrium and nonequilibrium spin (magnetization) in the emitter, base, or
collector. The low-injection theory of spin-polarized transport through MBTs
and of a more general case of an array of magnetic {\it p-n} junctions is
developed and illustrated on several important cases. Two main physical
phenomena are discussed: electrical spin injection and spin control of current
amplification (magnetoamplification). It is shown that a source spin can be
injected from the emitter to the collector. If the base of an MBT has an
equilibrium magnetization, the spin can be injected from the base to the
collector by intrinsic spin injection. The resulting spin accumulation in the
collector is proportional to , where is the proton
charge, is the bias in the emitter-base junction, and is the
thermal energy. To control the electrical current through MBTs both the
equilibrium and the nonequilibrium spin can be employed. The equilibrium spin
controls the magnitude of the equilibrium electron and hole densities, thereby
controlling the currents. Increasing the equilibrium spin polarization of the
base (emitter) increases (decreases) the current amplification. If there is a
nonequilibrium spin in the emitter, and the base or the emitter has an
equilibrium spin, a spin-valve effect can lead to a giant magnetoamplification
effect, where the current amplifications for the parallel and antiparallel
orientations of the the equilibrium and nonequilibrium spins differ
significantly. The theory is elucidated using qualitative analyses and is
illustrated on an MBT example with generic materials parameters.Comment: 14 PRB-style pages, 10 figure
Spin relaxation: From 2D to 1D
In inversion asymmetric semiconductors, spin-orbit interactions give rise to
very effective relaxation mechanisms of the electron spin. Recent work, based
on the dimensionally constrained D'yakonov Perel' mechanism, describes
increasing electron-spin relaxation times for two-dimensional conducting layers
with decreasing channel width. The slow-down of the spin relaxation can be
understood as a precursor of the one-dimensional limit
Theory of spin-polarized bipolar transport in magnetic p-n junctions
The interplay between spin and charge transport in electrically and
magnetically inhomogeneous semiconductor systems is investigated theoretically.
In particular, the theory of spin-polarized bipolar transport in magnetic p-n
junctions is formulated, generalizing the classic Shockley model. The theory
assumes that in the depletion layer the nonequilibrium chemical potentials of
spin up and spin down carriers are constant and carrier recombination and spin
relaxation are inhibited. Under the general conditions of an applied bias and
externally injected (source) spin, the model formulates analytically carrier
and spin transport in magnetic p-n junctions at low bias. The evaluation of the
carrier and spin densities at the depletion layer establishes the necessary
boundary conditions for solving the diffusive transport equations in the bulk
regions separately, thus greatly simplifying the problem. The carrier and spin
density and current profiles in the bulk regions are calculated and the I-V
characteristics of the junction are obtained. It is demonstrated that spin
injection through the depletion layer of a magnetic p-n junction is not
possible unless nonequilibrium spin accumulates in the bulk regions--either by
external spin injection or by the application of a large bias. Implications of
the theory for majority spin injection across the depletion layer, minority
spin pumping and spin amplification, giant magnetoresistance, spin-voltaic
effect, biasing electrode spin injection, and magnetic drift in the bulk
regions are discussed in details, and illustrated using the example of a GaAs
based magnetic p-n junction.Comment: 36 pages, 11 figures, 2 table