226 research outputs found
Engineering of spin-lattice relaxation dynamics by digital growth of diluted magnetic semiconductor CdMnTe
The technological concept of "digital alloying" offered by molecular-beam
epitaxy is demonstrated to be a very effective tool for tailoring static and
dynamic magnetic properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors. Compared to
common "disordered alloys" with the same Mn concentration, the spin-lattice
relaxation dynamics of magnetic Mn ions has been accelerated by an order of
magnitude in (Cd,Mn)Te digital alloys, without any noticeable change in the
giant Zeeman spin splitting of excitonic states, i.e. without effect on the
static magnetization. The strong sensitivity of the magnetization dynamics to
clustering of the Mn ions opens a new degree of freedom for spin engineering.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Topological Hall effect and Berry phase in magnetic nanostructures
We discuss the anomalous Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas
subject to a spatially varying magnetization. This topological Hall effect
(THE) does not require any spin-orbit coupling, and arises solely from Berry
phase acquired by an electron moving in a smoothly varying magnetization. We
propose an experiment with a structure containing 2D electrons or holes of
diluted magnetic semiconductor subject to the stray field of a lattice of
magnetic nanocylinders. The striking behavior predicted for such a system (of
which all relevant parameters are well known) allows to observe unambiguously
the THE and to distinguish it from other mechanisms.Comment: 5 pages with 4 figure
Optical Studies of Zero-Field Magnetization of CdMnTe Quantum Dots: Influence of Average Size and Composition of Quantum Dots
We show that through the resonant optical excitation of spin-polarized
excitons into CdMnTe magnetic quantum dots, we can induce a macroscopic
magnetization of the Mn impurities. We observe very broad (4 meV linewidth)
emission lines of single dots, which are consistent with the formation of
strongly confined exciton magnetic polarons. Therefore we attribute the
optically induced magnetization of the magnetic dots results to the formation
of spin-polarized exciton magnetic polarons. We find that the photo-induced
magnetization of magnetic polarons is weaker for larger dots which emit at
lower energies within the QD distribution. We also show that the photo-induced
magnetization is stronger for quantum dots with lower Mn concentration, which
we ascribe to weaker Mn-Mn interaction between the nearest neighbors within the
dots. Due to particular stability of the exciton magnetic polarons in QDs,
where the localization of the electrons and holes is comparable to the magnetic
exchange interaction, this optically induced spin alignment persists to
temperatures as high as 160 K.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figs - submitted for publicatio
Optical control of electron spin coherence in CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum wells
Optical control of the spin coherence of quantum well electrons by short
laser pulses with circular or linear polarization is studied experimentally and
theoretically. For that purpose the coherent electron spin dynamics in a
n-doped CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te quantum well structure was measured by time-resolved
pump-probe Kerr rotation, using resonant excitation of the negatively charged
exciton (trion) state. The amplitude and phase shifts of the electron spin beat
signal in an external magnetic field, that are induced by laser control pulses,
depend on the pump-control delay and polarization of the control relative to
the pump pulse. Additive and non-additive contributions to pump-induced signal
due to the control are isolated experimentally. These contributions can be well
described in the framework of a two-level model for the optical excitation of
the resident electron to the trion.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figure
Magnetic field control of photon echo in the electron-trion system: Shuffling of coherences between optically accessible and inaccessible states
We report on magnetic field induced oscillations of the photon echo signal
from negatively charged excitons in a CdTe/(Cd,Mg)Te semiconductor quantum
well. The oscillatory signal is due to Larmor precession of the electron spin
about a transverse magnetic field and depends sensitively on the polarization
configuration of the exciting and refocusing pulses. The echo amplitude can be
fully tuned from maximum down to zero depending on the time delay between the
two pulses and the magnetic field strength. The results are explained in terms
of the optical Bloch equations accounting for the spin level structure of
electron and trion.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Optical spin pumping of modulation doped electrons probed by a two-color Kerr rotation technique
We report on optical spin pumping of modulation electrons in CdTe-based
quantum wells with low intrinsic electron density (by 10^10 cm^{-2}). Under
continuous wave excitation, we reach a steady state accumulated spin density of
about 10^8 cm^{-2}. Using a two-color Hanle-MOKE technique, we find a spin
relaxation time of 34 ns for the localized electrons in the nearly unperturbed
electron gas. Independent variation of the pump and probe energies demonstrates
the presence of additional non-localized electrons in the quantum well, whose
spin relaxation time is substantially shorter
- …