Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 90: Spintronics II (organized by HL)

TT 90.7: Talk

Thursday, April 3, 2014, 11:30–11:45, POT 151

Polarization oscillations in spin-polarized vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers controlled by multiple excitation pulses — •Henning Höpfner, Markus Lindemann, Nils C. Gerhardt, and Martin R. Hofmann — Photonics and Terahertz Technology, Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44780 Bochum, Germany

Spin-polarized lasers offer many potential advantages over their conventional counterparts, including threshold reduction, polarization control and ultrafast dynamics for increased modulation bandwidth [1].

Upon excitation with circularly polarized light that creates spin-polarized carrier in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), the VCSEL shows oscillations of the circular polarization degree. These polarization oscillations can be much faster than the relaxation oscillations of the carrier-photon system. From calculations based on a rate-equation model we show that these oscillations can be switched on and off in a controlled manner using multiple circularly polarized optical excitation pulses. The results are verified experimentally, showing spin-induced polarization oscillation in conventional, electrically biased VCSELs subject to optical spin injection. We show polarization oscillation bursts with possible modulation frequencies far beyond the device's electrical modulation bandwidth.

[1] Gerhardt et al., Applied Physics Letters 99 (15), 151107 (2011)