Spin–orbit stiffness of the spin‐polarized electron gas |
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| Authors: | F Baboux F Perez C A Ullrich G Karczewski T Wojtowicz |
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| Institution: | 1. Institut des Nanosciences de Paris, CNRS/Université Paris VI, Paris, France;2. Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures (LPN), CNRS, Université Paris‐Saclay, Marcoussis, France;3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA;4. Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland |
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| Abstract: | In a spin‐polarized electron gas, Coulomb interaction couples the spin and motion degrees of freedom to build propagating spin waves. The spin wave stiffness Ssw quantifies the energy cost to trigger such excitation by perturbing the kinetic energy of the electron gas (i.e. putting it in motion). Here we introduce the concept of spin–orbit stiffness, Sso, as the energy necessary to excite a spin wave with a spin polarization induced by spin–orbit coupling. This quantity governs the Coulombic enhancement of the spin–orbit field acting of the spin wave. First‐principles calculations and electronic Raman scattering experiments carried out on a model spin‐polarized electron gas, embedded in a CdMnTe quantum well, demonstrate that Sso = Ssw. Through optical gating of the structure, we demonstrate the reproducible tuning of Sso by a factor of 3, highlighting the great potential of spin–orbit control of spin waves in view of spintronics applications. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
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| Keywords: | two‐dimensional electron gas spin− orbit coupling spin waves diluted magnetic semiconductors inelastic light scattering |
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