Interferometric detection of spin-polarized transport in the depletion layer of a metal-GaAs Schottky barrier

Abstract

It is shown that the Kerr rotation of spin-polarized electrons is modulated by the distance of the electrons from the sample surface. Time-resolved Kerr rotation of optically-excited spin-polarized electrons in the depletion layer of n-doped GaAs displays fast oscillations that originate from an interference between the light reflected from the semiconductor surface and from the front of the electron distribution moving into the semiconductor. Using this effect, the dynamics of the photogenerated charge carriers in the depletion layer of the biased Schottky barrier is measured.

arXiv comment10 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Imaging spin flows in semiconductors subject to electric, magnetic, and strain fields

Cited by in corpus (4)

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• Universal nuclear focusing of confined electron spins
• Electrical Control of Dynamic Spin Splitting Induced by Exchange Interaction as Revealed by Time Resolved Kerr Rotation in a Degenerate Spin-Polarized Electron Gas
• Optical probing of spin dynamics of two-dimensional and bulk electrons in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction system