arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H. M. van Driel.
We show both theoretically and experimentally that the magnetization density accompanying ultrafast excitation of a semiconductor with circular polarized light varies rapidly enough to produce a detectable THz field.
We consider the possibility of ultrafast extrinsic spin-Hall currents, generated by skew scattering following the optical injection of charge or pure spin currents. We propose a phenomenological model for this effect in quantum well structures. An injected charge current leads to a spin-Hall-induced pure spin current, and an injected pure spin current leads to a spin-Hall-induced charge current. The resulting spin or charge accumulation can be measured optically.
We demonstrate ultrafast all-optical deflection of spatial solitons in an AlGaAs slab waveguide using 190 fs, 1550 nm pulses which are used to generate and deflect the spatial soliton. The steering beam is focused onto the top of the waveguide near the soliton pathway and the soliton is steered due to refractive index changes induced by optical Kerr, or free carrier (Drude) effects. Angular deflections up to 8 mR are observed.
A comparison is made between the degree of spin polarization of electrons excited by one- and two-photon absorption of circularly polarized light in bulk zincblende semiconductors. Time- and polarization-resolved experiments in (001)-oriented GaAs reveal an initial degree of spin polarization of 49% for both one- and two-photon spin injection at wavelengths of 775 and 1550 nm, in agreement with theory. The macroscopic symmetry and microscopic theory for two-photon spin injection are reviewed, and the latter is generalized to account for spin-splitting of the bands. The degree of spin polarization of one- and two-photon optical orientation need not be equal, as shown by calculations of spectra for GaAs, InP, GaSb, InSb, and ZnSe using a 14x14 k.p Hamiltonian including remote band effects. By including the higher conduction bands in the calculation, cubic anisotropy and the role of allowed-allowed transitions can be investigated. The allowed-allowed transitions do not conserve angular momentum and can cause a high degree of spin polarization close to the band edge; a value of 78% is calculated in GaSb, but by varying the material parameters it could be as high as 100%. The selection rules for spin injection from allowed-allowed transitions are presented, and interband spin-orbit coupling is found to play an important role.