Detection of electrical spin injection by light-emitting diodes in top- and side-emission configuration

Detection of the degree of circular polarization of the electroluminescence of a light-emitting diode fitted with a spin injecting contact (a spin-LED) allows for a direct determination of the spin polarization of the injected carriers. Here, we compare the detection efficiency of (Al,Ga)As spin-LEDs fitted with a (Zn,Be,Mn)Se spin injector in top- and side-emission configuration. In contrast with top emission, we cannot detect the electrical spin injection in side emission from analysing the degree of circular polarization of the electroluminescence. To reduce resonant optical pumping of quantum-well excitons in the side emission, we have analysed structures with mesa sizes as small as 1 micron.Comment: 15 pages with 3 figure

Molecular-beam epitaxy of (Zn,Mn)Se on Si(100)

We have investigated the growth by molecular-beam epitaxy of the II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductor (Zn,Mn)Se on As-passivated Si(100) substrates. The growth start has been optimized by using low-temperature epitaxy. Surface properties were assessed by Nomarski and scanning electron microscopy. Optical properties of (Zn,Mn)Se have been studied by photoluminescence and a giant Zeeman splitting of up to 30 meV has been observed. Our observations indicate a high crystalline quality of the epitaxial films.Comment: To be published in Applied Physics Letter

Shake-up Processes in Intersubband Magneto-photoabsorption of a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

I theoretically study shake-up processes in photoabsorption of an interacting low-density two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in magnetic fields. Such processes, in which an incident photon creates an electron-hole pair and simultaneously excites one electron to one of the higher Landau levels, were observed experimentally [D.R. Yakovlev et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 3974 (1997)] and were called combined exciton-cyclotron resonance (ExCR). The recently developed theory of ExCR [A.B. Dzyubenko, Phys. Rev. B 64, 241101 (2001)] allows for a consistent treatment of the Coulomb correlations, establishes the exact ExCR selection rules, and predicts the high field features of ExCR. In this work, I generalize the existing theory of high-field ExCR in the 2DEG to the case when the hole is excited to higher hole Landau levels.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; Proceedings NGS-11 (June 2003, Buffalo, NY, USA

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

Quantum-dot-based optical polarization conversion

We report circular-to-linear and linear-to-circular conversion of optical polarization by semiconductor quantum dots. The polarization conversion occurs under continuous wave excitation in absence of any magnetic field. The effect originates from quantum interference of linearly and circularly polarized photon states, induced by the natural anisotropic shape of the self assembled dots. The behavior can be qualitatively explained in terms of a pseudospin formalism.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; a reference adde