arXiv subjects

K. V. Kavokin

Publications and source records attributed to K. V. Kavokin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Optical Cooling of Nuclear Spins in a CdTe/CdZnTe Quantum Well: The Impact of Kinetic Local Fields on Cooling Efficiency

The efficiency of optical cooling of nuclear spins in a CdTe/CdZnTe quantum well is investigated as a function of an external magnetic field. Our results confirm that there is indeed an optimal external magnetic field for optical cooling. We associate it with the kinetic local field $B_{KL}$ defined by the heating rate of the spin-spin reservoir due to the fluctuations of the hyperfine interaction. We also propose an experimental technique for measuring $B_{KL}$. For our sample we find that $B_{KL}=1.0\pm0.4$ G and it is independent of the electron polarization and pump power. The measured values of the kinetic local fields are in good agreement with a theoretical calculation $B_{KL} = 0.7$ G, taking into account indirect spin-spin interactions of Cd and Te nuclear spins and their considerably different hyperfine constants. The hyperfine constants of the magnetic isotopes of Cd and Te in CdTe are estimated.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Optical cooling of nuclear spins in GaAs/(Al,Ga)As quantum wells at subkelvin temperatures: Evidence of the dynamic self-polarization of nuclear spins

We investigate the dynamic polarization of nuclear spins in a nominally undoped GaAs/Al$_{0.35}$Ga$_{0.65}$As quantum well using two complementary experimental approaches: time-resolved Kerr rotation and optical orientation measurements of photoluminescence. Using the first technique, we measure a remarkably large Overhauser field of 3.1 T in a geometry close to the Faraday configuration for a 19.7 nm wide quantum well at a temperature of 1.6 K. A nuclear spin temperature of 6.4 $μ$K is measured at an external magnetic field of 0.006 T following an adiabatic sweep from 0.6 T. Despite the quadrupole-induced nuclear spin splitting inherent to nanostructures, the nuclear spin system is found to follow the predictions of spin temperature theory. Using the optical orientation of the photoluminescence, we investigated nuclear spin dynamics at millikelvin temperatures down to 300 mK. At a temperature of 500 mK, an Overhauser field of 160 mT is generated in an oblique but nearly Voigt magnetic field using low optical power to avoid heating. The nuclear polarization build-up time is of 150 s, consistent with earlier reports at higher temperatures, where hyperfine scattering on free photoexcited electrons governs relaxation. At 500 mK, the onset of dynamic self-polarization of nuclear spins is observed, which becomes more pronounced as the lattice temperature is further reduced to 300 mK. The estimated nuclear spin temperature in the dynamic self-polarization regime can be as low as 200 nK.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Kerr effect induced by exchange interaction of electrons separated by a tunnel barrier in a double quantum well

In a structure with two tunnel-coupled quantum wells of different widths, the spin dynamics resulting from resonant pulsed optical pumping of the narrow-well exciton includes the wide-well electron magnetization dynamics. Our analysis shows that the effect is driven by electron exchange between narrow-well excitons and spin-polarized electrons in the wide well. A theoretical model of the spin Kerr effect has been developed accounting for the interwell electron spin exchange. In the studied double-well structure with CdTe and Cd$_{0.98}$Mn$_{0.02}$Te quantum wells and a well-separating barrier thickness of 5 monolayers (1.6 nm), the model accurately describes the experimental results and allows us to estimate the interwell electron exchange constant as $δ_{e} \approx 0.9\times10^{-15}~\textrm{eV}~\textrm{cm}^{2}$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Cooling and heating nuclear spins by strongly localized electrons

The concept of nuclear spin temperature has been a cornerstone of the theory of dynamic nuclear spin polarization by electrons in various semiconductor structures for decades. Still, it is not always applicable to strongly localized electrons due to their long spin correlation times. This motivated the use of the oversimplified central spin model for the description of the nuclear spin dynamics in quantum dots. Here, we present a microscopic theory that bridges the gap between these two approaches by describing the nuclear spin thermodynamics for systems with long electron spin correlation times. Importantly, our theory predicts that efficient nuclear spin cooling by strongly localized electrons requires an external magnetic field by far exceeding the local field of nuclear spin-spin interaction, and that the time of the nuclear spin heating by unpolarized electrons may change by several orders of magnitude depending on the magnetic field.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Nuclear spin-spin interactions in CdTe probed by zero and ultra-low-field optically detected NMR

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is particularly relevant for studies of internuclear spin coupling at zero and ultra-low fields (ZULF), where spin-spin interactions dominate over Zeeman ones. Here we report on ZULF NMR in CdTe. In this semiconductor all magnetic isotopes have spin $I = 1/2$, so that internuclear interactions are never overshadowed by quadrupole effects. Our experiments rely on warm-up spectroscopy, a technique that combines optical pumping, additional cooling via adiabatic demagnetisation, and detection of the oscillating magnetic field-induced warm-up of the nuclear spin system via Hanle effect. We show that NMR spectra exhibit a rich fine structure, consistent with the low abundance of magnetic isotopes in CdTe, their zero quadrupole moments, as well as direct and indirect interactions between them. A model assuming that the electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by nuclear spin clusters composed of up to 5 magnetic isotopes allows us to reproduce the shape of a major part of the measured spectra.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Simultaneous measurements of nuclear spin heat capacity, temperature and relaxation in GaAs microstructures

Heat capacity of the nuclear spin system (NSS) in GaAs-based microstructures has been shown to be much greater than expected from dipolar coupling between nuclei, thus limiting the efficiency of NSS cooling by adiabatic demagnetization. It was suggested that quadrupole interaction induced by some small residual strain could provide this additional reservoir for the heat storage. We check and validate this hypothesis by combining nuclear spin relaxation measurements with adiabatic remagnetization and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, using electron spin noise spectroscopy as a unique tool for detection of nuclear magnetization. Our results confirm and quantify the role of the quadrupole splitting in the heat storage within NSS and provide additional insight into fundamental, but still actively debated relation between a mechanical strain and the resulting electric field gradients in GaAs.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Local field of spin-spin interactions in the nuclear spin system of n-GaAs

At low lattice temperatures the nuclear spins in a solid form a closed thermodynamic system that is well isolated from the lattice. Thermodynamic properties of the nuclear spin system are characterized by the local field of spin-spin interactions, which determines its heat capacity and the minimal achievable nuclear spin temperature in demagnetization experiments. We report the results of measurement of the local field for the nuclear spin system in GaAs, which is a model material for semiconductor spintronics. The choice of the structure, a weakly doped GaAs epitaxial layer with weak residual deformations, and of the measurement method, the adiabatic demagnetization of optically cooled nuclear spins, allowed us to refine the value of nuclear spin-spin local field, which turned out to be two times less than one previously obtained. Our experimental results are supported by calculations, which take into account dipole-dipole and indirect (pseudodipolar and exchange) nuclear spin interactions as well as quadrupole splitting of nuclear spins in the vicinity of charged impurity centers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2022

Trion magnetic polarons in (Cd,Mn)Te/(Cd,Mn,Mg)Te quantum wells

A trion magnetic polaron formed by the exchange interaction of a positively charged exciton (trion) with localized spins of Mn$^{2+}$ ions is found experimentally in a 4\,nm wide Cd$_{0.98}$Mn$_{0.02}$Te/Cd$_{0.78}$Mn$_{0.02}$Mg$_{0.2}$Te quantum well containing resident holes. The experiment is performed at a temperature of 1.6 K using resonant excitation of the trion with circularly polarized light. The trion is formed from a resident hole, which is in a hole magnetic polaron state, and a photogenerated electron-hole pair. The dynamical evolution from the hole magnetic polaron to the trion magnetic polaron is accompanied by a spin-flip of the electron, which results in negative circular polarization of the photoluminescence. The degree of circular polarization reaches $-8\%$ at zero magnetic field and strongly decreases in transverse magnetic fields exceeding 0.2 T. Our model considerations show that different localization sizes of the resident and photogenerated holes and the resulting difference in their exchange interaction with the Mn$^{2+}$ spins maintains Mn spin polarization. The resulting exchange field of Mn acting on the electron provides a robust spin polarization of the trion magnetic polaron. We evaluate the electron exchange energy in the T$^+$MP to be 0.19~meV, and the T$^+$MP binding energy to be about 0.5 - 1 meV.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Unveiling the electron-nuclear spin dynamics in an n-doped InGaAs epilayer by spin noise spectroscopy

We discuss the implications of a small indium content (3%) in a GaAs epilayer on the electron- and nuclear-spin relaxation due to enhanced quadrupolar effects induced by the strain. Using the weakly perturbative spin-noise spectroscopy, we study the electron-spin relaxation dynamics without explicit excitation. The observed temperature dependence indicates the presence of localized states, which have an increased interaction with the surrounding nuclear spins. Time-resolved spin-noise spectroscopy is then applied to study the relaxation dynamics of the optically pumped nuclear-spin system. It shows a multi-exponential decay with time components, ranging from several seconds to hundreds of seconds. Further, we provide a measurement of the local magnetic field acting between the nuclear spins and discover a strong contribution of quadrupole effects. Finally, we apply the nuclear spin diffusion model, that allows us to estimate the concentration of the localized carrier states and to determine the nuclear spin diffusion constant characteristic for this system.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Warm-up spectroscopy of quadrupole-split nuclear spins in n-GaAs epitaxial layers

The efficiency of the adiabatic demagnetization of nuclear spin system (NSS) of a solid is limited, if quadrupole effects are present. Nevertheless, despite a considerable quadrupole interaction, recent experiments validated the thermodynamic description of the NSS in GaAs. This suggests that nuclear spin temperature can be used as the universal indicator of the NSS state in presence of external perturbations. We implement this idea by analyzing the modification of the NSS temperature in response to an oscillating magnetic field at various frequencies, an approach termed as the warm-up spectroscopy. It is tested in a n-GaAs sample where both mechanical strain and built-in electric field may contribute to the quadrupole splitting, yielding the parameters of electric field gradient tensors for 75As and both Ga isotopes, 69Ga and 71Ga.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Electron-induced nuclear magnetic ordering in n-type semiconductors

Nuclear magnetism in n-doped semiconductors with positive hyperfine constant is revisited. Two kinds of nuclear magnetic ordering can be induced by resident electrons in a deeply cooled nuclear spin system. At positive nuclear spin temperature below a critical value, randomly oriented nuclear spin polarons similar to that predicted by I. Merkulov [I. Merkulov, Physics of the Solid State 40, 930 (1998)] should emerge. These polarons are oriented randomly and within each polaron nuclear and electron spins are aligned antiferromagnetically. At negative nuclear spin temperature below a critical value we predict another type of magnetic ordering - dynamically induced nuclear ferromagnet. This is a long-range ferromagnetically ordered state involving both electrons and nuclei. It can form if electron spin relaxation is dominated by the hyperfine coupling, rather than by the spin-orbit interaction. Application of the theory to the n-doped GaAs suggests that the ferromagnetic order may be reached at experimentally achievable nuclear spin temperature $Θ_N \approx 0.5$ $μ$K and lattice temperature $T_L \approx 5$ K.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Deep optical cooling of coupled nuclear spin-spin and quadrupole reservoirs in a GaAs/(Al,Ga)As quantum well

The selective cooling of $^{75}$As spins by optical pumping followed by adiabatic demagnetization in the rotating frame is realized in a nominally undoped GaAs/(Al,Ga)As quantum well. The rotation of 6 kG strong Overhauser field at the $^{75}$As Larmor frequency of 5.5 MHz is evidenced by the dynamic Hanle effect. Despite the presence of the quadrupole induced nuclear spin splitting, it is shown that the rotating $^{75}$As magnetization is uniquely determined by the spin temperature of coupled spin-spin and quadrupole reservoirs. The dependence of heat capacity of these reservoirs on the external magnetic field direction with respect to crystal and structure axes is investigated. The lowest nuclear spin temperature achieved is 0.54 $μ$K, which is the record low value for semiconductors and semiconductor nanostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Nonlinear high-frequency magnetic response of magnetoferritin metacrystals governed by spin thermodynamics

A theory is developed of the time-dependent magnetization of the metacrystal composed of magnetoferritin macromolecules. Such superstructures, comprising up to several millions of superparamagnetic nanoparticles encapsulated in protein shells, can be created artificially using biochemical assembling technologies. They have been also shown to occur naturally in sensitive cells of the inner ear of birds, which suggests their possible involvement in the detection of the geomagnetic field for orientation and navigation of migratory animals. The dynamics of the magnetic system of the magnetoferritin metacrystal, comprising a very large number of magnetic moments coupled by long-range dipole forces, is exceedingly complex. In order to find the response of the metacrystal to high-frequency magnetic fields, we used a thermodynamic approach borrowed from the theory of nuclear spin systems of solids. The resulted theory yields the time-dependent superspin temperature and magnetization induced by oscillating magnetic fields of arbitrary strength. The predicted dependence of the high-frequency response on the static magnetic field can be used for experimental detection and characterization of magnetoferritin metacrystals in biological tissues.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Exciton energy oscillations induced by quantum beats

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate an oscillating energy shift of quantum-confined exciton levels in a semiconductor quantum well after excitation into a superposition of two quantum confined exciton states of different parity. Oscillations are observed at frequencies corresponding to the quantum beats between these states. We show that the observed effect is a manifestation of the exciton density oscillations in the real space similar to the dynamics of a Hertzian dipole. The effect is caused by the exciton-exciton exchange interaction and appears only if the excitons are in a superposition quantum state. Thus, we have found clear evidence for the incoherent exchange interaction in the coherent process of quantum beats. This effect may be harnessed for quantum technologies requiring the quantum coherence of states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Optical Resonance Shift Spin Noise Spectroscopy

Quantum spin fluctuations provide a unique way to study spin dynamics without system perturbation. Here we put forward an optical resonance shift spin noise spectroscopy as a powerful tool to measure the spin noise of various systems from magnetic impurities in solids to free atoms and molecules. The quantum spin fluctuations in these systems can shift the optical resonances by more than the homogeneous linewidth and produce huge Faraday rotation noise. We demonstrate, that the resonance shift spin noise spectroscopy gives access to the high order spin correlators, which contain complete information about the spin dynamics in contrast with the second order correlator measured by conventional Pauli-blocking spin noise spectroscopy. The high order quantum spin correlators manifest themselves as a comb of peaks in the Faraday rotation noise spectra in transverse magnetic field. This effect is closely related with the multispin flip Raman scattering observed in the Mn-doped nanostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Subsecond nuclear spin dynamics in $n$-GaAs

We use time-resolved detection of the Hanle effect and polarized photoluminescence with dark intervals to investigate the buildup and decay of the spin polarization of nuclei interacting with donor-bound electrons in $n$-doped GaAs. Strong hyperfine coupling defines the millisecond timescale of the spin dynamics of these nuclei, as distinct from the nuclei far from impurity centers, characterized by a thousand times longer spin-relaxation time. The dynamics of spin polarization and relaxation attributed to the nuclei inside the donor orbit is observed on the time scale from 200 to 425 ms.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Nanosecond-scale magneto-exciton energy oscillations in quantum wells

We report on the experimental evidence for a nanosecond time-scale spin memory based on nonradiative excitons. The effect manifests itself in magnetic-field-induced oscillations of the energy of the optically active (radiative) excitons. The oscillations detected by a spectrally-resolved pump-probe technique applied to a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structure in a transverse magnetic field persist over a time scale, which is orders of magnitude longer than the characteristic decoherence time in the system. The effect is attributed to the spin-dependent electron-electron exchange interaction of the optically active and inactive excitons. The spin relaxation time of the electrons belonging to nonradiative excitons appears to be much longer than the hole spin relaxation time.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Quantum Interference Controls the Electron Spin Dynamics in n-GaAs

Manifestations of quantum interference effects in macroscopic objects are rare. Weak localization is one of the few examples of such effects showing up in the electron transport through solid state. Here we show that weak localization becomes prominent also in optical spectroscopy via detection of the electron spin dynamics. In particular, we find that weak localization controls the free electron spin relaxation in semiconductors at low temperatures and weak magnetic fields by slowing it down by almost a factor of two in $n$-doped GaAs in the metallic phase. The weak localization effect on the spin relaxation is suppressed by moderate magnetic fields of about 1 T, which destroy the interference of electron trajectories, and by increasing the temperature. The weak localization suppression causes an anomalous decrease of the longitudinal electron spin relaxation time $T_1$ with magnetic field, in stark contrast with well-known magnetic field induced increase in $T_1$. This is consistent with transport measurements which show the same variation of resistivity with magnetic field. Our discovery opens a vast playground to explore quantum magneto-transport effects optically in the spin dynamics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗