Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help

TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 90: Spintronics II (organized by HL)

TT 90.2: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 10:15–10:30, POT 151

Acoustic charge and spin transport in GaAs (111)B quantum wells — •Alberto Hernández-Mínguez, Klaus Biermann, and Paulo Santos — Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Berlin, Germany

The special properties of electron spin dynamics in GaAs (111) quantum wells (QWs) have been subject of study during the last years. Recently, it has been experimentally shown that, to first order in the electron wavevector, the in-plane component of the spin-orbit interaction can be suppressed simultaneously for all electrons in the QW just by applying an electric field of a certain amplitude perpendicularly to the QW plane. As a consequence, by tuning the amplitude of the electric field, the spin polarization lifetime of an electron ensemble is varied from a few hundred picoseconds to tens of nanoseconds.

In addition, surface acoustic waves (SAWs) have proved to be an useful tool for the controlled transport and manipulation of electron spins in GaAs QWs: the piezoelectric field accompanying the SAW allows the spatial confinement of electrons and their transport, with the well defined SAW velocity, over distances of several tens of micrometers. In this contribution, we explore the generation of SAWs in GaAs (111) QWs, as well as their combination with vertical electric fields for the acoustic transport of long living electron spins. In this way, we observe acoustic charge transport along 40µm distance, and spin transport around 15 µm.