Current induced electron spin polarization in strained semiconductors.pdf

a r X i v : c o n d - m a t / 0 4 0 3 4 0 7 v 1 [ c o n d - m a t .m e s - h a l l ] 1 6 M a r 2 0 0 4 Current induced spin polarization in strained semiconductors Y. Kato, R. C. Myers, A. C. Gossard, and D. D. Awschalom Center for Spintronics and Quantum Computation, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106 (Dated: February 2, 2008) The polarization of conduction electron spins due to an electrical current is observed in strained nonmagnetic semiconductors using static and time-resolved Faraday rotation. The density, lifetime, and orientation rate of the electrically-polarized spins are characterized by a combination of optical and electrical methods. In addition, the dynamics of the current-induced spins are investigated by utilizing electrical pulses generated from a photoconductive switch. These results demonstrate the possibility of a spin source for semiconductor spintronic devices without the use of magnetic materials. PACS numbers: 72.25.Pn, 85.75.-d, 78.47.+p Preparation and control of spin information are key is- sues in the development of spintronics [1, 2]. The use of nonmagnetic semiconductors to electrically control elec- tron spins has been demonstrated [3, 4], even in the absence of magnetic fields [5]. An electrical means of preparing spin-polarized carriers without magnetic ma- terials would provide a further step toward all-electrical nonmagnetic spintronic devices. It has been proposed that current-induced spin polarization may provide such an opportunity. The existence of a spin current perpen- dicular to a charge current, which would cause spin ac- cumulation at the edges of a sample, has been predicted [6, 7, 8, 9]. There also exist theories for spatially ho- mogeneous spin polarization resulting from an electrical current in systems such as two dimensional electron gases [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]. It is anticipated that ap- plication of an electric field establishes an effective mag- netic field which polarizes the ele