Growth Direction Dependence of the Electron Spin Dynamics in {111} GaAs Quantum Wells

Abstract

The electron spin dynamics is studied by time-resolved Kerr rotation in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells embedded in a negatively doped-intrinsic-positively doped structures grown on (111)A or (111)B-oriented substrates. In both cases the spin lifetimes are significantly increased by applying an external electric field but this field has to point along the growth direction for structures grown on (111)A and opposite to it for the ones grown on (111)B. This extended electron spin lifetime is the result of the suppression of the D'yakonov-Perel spin relaxation mechanism [Sov. Phys. Solid State 13, 3023 (1972)] due to the cancellation effect of the internal Dresselhaus term [Phys. Rev. 100, 580 (1955)] with the external electric field induced Rashba one [J. Phys. C 17, 6039 (1984)], both governing the conduction band spin-orbit splitting. These results demonstrate the key role played by the growth direction in the design of spintronic devices.

11 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Emergence of the persistent spin helix in semiconductor quantum wells
• Suppression of the D'yakonov-Perel' spin relaxation mechanism for all spin components in [111] zincblende quantum wells
• Symmetry and spin dephasing in (110)-grown quantum wells
• Spin-orbit fields in asymmetric (001) quantum wells
• Detection of large magneto-anisotropy of electron spin dephasing in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron system in a $[001]$ GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well
• Spin relaxation in $n$-type (111) GaAs quantum wells

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Persistent Spin Textures in Semiconductor Nanostructures
• Rashba-like spin splitting along three momentum directions in trigonal layered PtBi2
• Ehrlich-Schwoebel Effect on the Growth Dynamics of GaAs(111)A surfaces
• Electrical suppression of spin relaxation in GaAs(111)B Quantum Wells
• Effect of Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on spin dephasing in asymmetric and macroscopically symmetric (110)-grown quantum wells
• Generation of Schrödinger's cat states in a planar semiconductor heterostructure
• All-electric single electron spin initialization