Compact cryogenic Kerr microscope for time-resolved studies of electron spin transport in microstructures
arXiv:0809.3209 · doi:10.1063/1.3046283
Abstract
A compact cryogenic Kerr microscope for operation in the small volume of high-field magnets is described. It is suited for measurements both in Voigt and Faraday configuration. Coupled with a pulsed laser source, the microscope is used to measure the time-resolved Kerr rotation response of semiconductor microstructures with ~1 micron spatial resolution. The microscope was designed to study spin transport, a critical issue in the field of spintronics. It is thus possible to generate spin polarization at a given location on a microstructure and probe it at a different location. The operation of the microscope is demonstrated by time-resolved measurements of micrometer distance diffusion of spin polarized electrons in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction quantum well at 4.2 K and 7 Tesla.
References in corpus (6)
- Spatial imaging of the spin Hall effect and current-induced polarization in two-dimensional electron gases
- Measurement of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit magnetic fields
- Observation of Faraday rotation from a single confined spin
- Imaging spin flows in semiconductors subject to electric, magnetic, and strain fields
- Spin polarization in a T-shape conductor induced by strong Rashba spin-orbit coupling
- Charge and spin dynamics in a two dimensional electron gas