Field control of anisotropic spin transport and spin helix dynamics in a modulation-doped GaAs quantum well

Electron spin transport and dynamics are investigated in a single, high-mobility, modulation-doped, GaAs quantum well using ultrafast two-color Kerr-rotation microspectroscopy, supported by qualitative kinetic theory simulations of spin diffusion and transport. Evolution of the spins is governed by the Dresselhaus bulk and Rashba structural inversion asymmetries, which manifest as an effective magnetic field that can be extracted directly from the experimental coherent spin precession. A spin-precession length λ[subscript SOI] is defined as one complete precession in the effective magnetic field. It is observed that application of (i) an out-of-plane electric field changes the spin decay time and λ[subscript SOI] through the Rashba component of the spin-orbit coupling, (ii) an in-plane magnetic field allows for extraction of the Dresselhaus and Rashba parameters, and (iii) an in-plane electric field markedly modifies both the λ[subscript SOI] and diffusion coefficient

Gardens of happiness: Sir William Temple, temperance and China

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordSir William Temple, an English statesman and humanist, wrote “Upon the Gardens of Epicurus” in 1685, taking a neo-epicurean approach to happiness and temperance. In accord with Pierre Gassendi’s epicureanism, “happiness” is characterised as freedom from disturbance and pain in mind and body, whereas “temperance” means following nature (Providence and one’s physiopsychological constitution). For Temple, cultivating fruit trees in his garden was analogous to the threefold cultivation of temperance as a virtue in the humoral body (as food), the mind (as freedom from the passions), and the bodyeconomic (as circulating goods) in order to attain happiness. A regimen that was supposed to cure the malaise of Restoration amidst a crisis of unbridled passions, this threefold cultivation of temperance underlines Temple’s reception of China and Confucianism wherein happiness and temperance are highlighted. Thus Temple’s “gardens of happiness” represent not only a reinterpretation of classical ideas, but also his dialogue with China.European CommissionLeverhulme Trus

Field control of anisotropic spin transport and spin helix dynamics in a modulation-doped GaAs quantum well

Electron spin transport and dynamics are investigated in a single, high-mobility, modulation-doped, GaAs quantum well using ultrafast two-color Kerr-rotation microspectroscopy, supported by qualitative kinetic theory simulations of spin diffusion and transport. Evolution of the spins is governed by the Dresselhaus bulk and Rashba structural inversion asymmetries, which manifest as an effective magnetic field that can be extracted directly from the experimental coherent spin precession. A spin-precession length λ[subscript SOI] is defined as one complete precession in the effective magnetic field. It is observed that application of (i) an out-of-plane electric field changes the spin decay time and λ[subscript SOI] through the Rashba component of the spin-orbit coupling, (ii) an in-plane magnetic field allows for extraction of the Dresselhaus and Rashba parameters, and (iii) an in-plane electric field markedly modifies both the λ[subscript SOI] and diffusion coefficient