Spin-polarization and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism in GaAs

The combination of angular spin momentum with electronics is a promising successor to charge-based electronics. The conduction bands in GaAs may become spin-polarized via optical spin pumping, doping with magnetic ions, or induction of a moment with an external magnetic field. We investigated the spin populations in GaAs with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism for each of these three cases. We find strong anti-symmetric lineshapes at the Ga L₃ edge indicating conduction band spin splitting, with differences in line width and amplitude depending on the source of spin polarization.