Spin-dependent tunneling in semiconductor heterostructures with a magnetic layer

Abstract

We present a theory that describes the appearance of circular polarization of the photoluminescence (PL) in ferromagnet-semiconductor hybrid heterostructures due to spin-dependent tunneling of photoexcited carriers from a quantum well into a magnetic layer. The theory succeeds in explaining the experimental data on time-resolved PL for heterostructures consisting of InGaAs-based quantum well (QW) and a spatially separated Mn $\delta$-layer. We show that the circular polarization of the PL originates from dynamic spin polarization of electrons due to spin-dependent leakage from the QW onto Mn donor states split by the exchange field of the ferromagnetic Mn delta-layer.

5 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Dilute ferromagnetic semiconductors: Physics and spintronic structures
• Nature of magnetic coupling between Mn ions in as-grown Ga${}_{1-x}$Mn${}_x$As studied by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism
• Resonant exchange interaction in semiconductors

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Dynamic spin injection into a quantum well coupled to a spin-split bound state
• Long-range p-d exchange interaction in a ferromagnet-semiconductor Co/CdMgTe/CdTe quantum well hybrid structure
• Optically controlled spin-polarization memory effect on Mn delta-doped heterostrucutres
• Optically induced spin electromotive force in ferromagnetic-semiconductor quantum well structure