Giant growth of quantum oscillations in an inhomogeneous 2D electron system

It is detected experimentally for the first time that the connection of 2D electron systems with different electrochemical potentials results in long-range (τ 50 μm) electron density disturbances. When a gated region of a Corbino sample is strongly depleted, the amplitude of the magnetoresistance oscillations caused by high density ungated regions is found to increase in direct proportion to the sample resistance, which is dominated by low-density regions with small conductivity. Experiments on samples with an artificial potential profile (antidots and etched rings) below the gate show that the observed effects are not due to contact effects. Pis’ma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 1, 55–60 (10 January 1996) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance: a spin-valve-like tunnel magnetoresistance using a single magnetic layer

We introduce a new class of spintronic devices in which a spin-valve-like effect results from strong spin-orbit coupling in a single ferromagnetic layer rather than from injection and detection of a spin-polarized current by two coupled ferromagnets. The effect is observed in a normal-metal-insulator-ferromagnetic-semiconductor tunneling device. This behavior is caused by the interplay of the anisotropic density of states in (Ga,Mn)As with respect to the magnetization direction and the two-step magnetization reversal process in this material.     

Picosecond dynamics of the photoinduced spin polarization in epitaxial (Ga,Mn)as films

Static and time-resolved magneto-optical spectra of the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)As show that a pulsed photoexcitation with a fluence of 10 microJ/cm(2) is equivalent to the application of an external magnetic field of about 1 mT, which relaxes with a decay time of 30 ps. This relaxation is attributed to the spin relaxation of electrons in the conduction band and is found to be not affected by interactions with Mn ions.     

Voltage-controlled spin selection in a magnetic resonant tunneling diode

We have fabricated all II-VI semiconductor resonant tunneling diodes based on the (Zn,Mn,Be)Se material system, containing dilute magnetic material in the quantum well, and studied their current-voltage characteristics. When subjected to an external magnetic field the resulting spin splitting of the levels in the quantum well leads to a splitting of the transmission resonance into two separate peaks. This is interpreted as evidence of tunneling transport through spin polarized levels, and could be the first step towards a voltage controlled spin filter.     

Optical dephasing in a glass-like system: a photon echo study of pentacene in benzoic acid

Optical absorption and picosecond photon echo experiments are used to study the dephasing of pentacene in benzoic acid. It is shown that, while the absorption spectrum of pentacene is effected by proton transfer in the benzoic acid dimer, the dephasing is caused by elastic and inelastic phonon scattering processes.     

Direct observation of the Aharonov-Casher phase

Ring structures fabricated from HgTe/HgCdTe quantum wells have been used to study Aharonov-Bohm type conductance oscillations as a function of Rashba spin-orbit splitting strength. We observe nonmonotonic phase changes indicating that an additional phase factor modifies the electron wave function. We associate these observations with the Aharonov-Casher effect. This is confirmed by comparison with numerical calculations of the magnetoconductance for a multichannel ring structure within the Landauer-Büttiker formalism.     

Suppression of electron spin relaxation in Mn-doped GaAs

We report a surprisingly long spin relaxation time of electrons in Mn-doped p-GaAs. The spin relaxation time scales with the optical pumping and increases from 12 ns in the dark to 160 ns upon saturation. This behavior is associated with the difference in spin relaxation rates of electrons precessing in the fluctuating fields of ionized or neutral Mn acceptors, respectively. For the latter, the antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between a Mn ion and a bound hole results in a partial compensation of these fluctuating fields, leading to the enhanced spin memory.