Ratchet effects in two-dimensional systems with a lateral periodic potential

Radiation-induced ratchet electric currents have been studied theoretically in graphene with a periodic noncentrosymmetric lateral potential. The ratchet current generated under normal incidence is shown to consist of two contributions, one of them being polarization-independent and proportional to the energy relaxation time, and another controlled solely by elastic scattering processes and sensitive to both the linear and circular polarization of radiation. Two realistic mechanisms of electron scattering in graphene are considered. For short-range defects, the ratchet current is helicity-dependent but independent of the direction of linear polarization. For the Coulomb impurity scattering, the ratchet current is forbidden for the radiation linearly polarized in the plane perpendicular to the lateral-potential modulation direction. For comparison, the ratchet currents in a quantum well with a lateral superlattice are calculated at low temperatures with allowance for the dependence of the momentum relaxation time on the electron energy.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Electric field control of spin-orbit splittings in GaAs/AlGaAs coupled quantum wells

Electron spin dynamics is investigated in n-i-n GaAs/AlGaAs coupled quantum wells. The electron spin dephasing time is measured as a function of an external electrical bias under resonant excitation of the 1sHH intrawell exciton using a time-resolved Kerr rotation technique. It is found a strong electron spin dephasing time anisotropy caused by an interference of the structure inversion asymmetry and the bulk inversion asymmetry. This anisotropy is shown to be controlled by an electrical bias. A theoretical analysis of electron spin dephasing time anisotropy is developed. The ratio of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin splittings is studied as a function of applied bias.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Tuning of structure inversion asymmetry by the δ\delta-doping position in (001)-grown GaAs quantum wells

Structure and bulk inversion asymmetry in doped (001)-grown GaAs quantum wells is investigated by applying the magnetic field induced photogalvanic effect. We demonstrate that the structure inversion asymmetry (SIA) can be tailored by variation of the delta-doping layer position. Symmetrically-doped structures exhibit a substantial SIA due to impurity segregation during the growth process. Tuning the SIA by the delta-doping position we grow samples with almost equal degrees of structure and bulk inversion asymmetry.Comment: 4 pages 2 figure