Regensburg 2010 – scientific programme
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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 19: Spin-controlled Transport I
HL 19.3: Talk
Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 10:00–10:15, H14
Selective Optical Excitation of In-Plane and Out-of-Plane Spin Polarizations with Linearly Polarized Light in InGaAs — •Stefan Göbbels1,2, Frederik Klein1,2, Philipp Schäfers1,2, Markus Hagedorn1,2, Klaus Schmalbuch1,2, Gernot Güntherodt1,2, Thomas Schäpers3,2, Mihail Lepsa3,2, and Bernd Beschoten1,2 — 1II. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen — 2Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, JARA - Fundamentals of Future Information Technology — 3Institut für Bio- und Nanosysteme IBN-1, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich
Excitation with circularly polarized light is a standard technique for optical spin orientation in semiconductors. This method is based on the transfer of angular momentum from the photons to the electrons and yields a polar spin polarization directed along the propagation direction of the exciting laser beam.
Here we present linearly polarized all-optical pump-probe experiments to excite and detect coherent electron spins in InGaAs. We find the magnitude and the orientation of the spin polarization strongly dependent on the polarization axes of the exciting light. While in general the excited spin ensemble is composed of both polar and transverse spin components, the polarization axis of the exciting light can be chosen such that polar and transverse spin components can be excited separately. Thus, selective excitation of in-plane and out-of-plane spin polarizations is feasible with linearly polarized light.
This work has been supported by DFG through FOR 912.