Pure spin currents induced by spin-dependent scattering processes in SiGe quantum well structures

Abstract

We show that spin-dependent electron-phonon interaction in the energy relaxation of a two-dimensional electron gas results in equal and oppositely directed currents in the spin-up and spin-down subbands yielding a pure spin current. In our experiments on SiGe heterostructures the pure spin current is converted into an electric current applying a magnetic field that lifts the cancellation of the two partial charge flows. A microscopic theory of this effect, taking account of the asymmetry of the relaxation process, is developed being in a good agreement with the experimental data.

6 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Experimental observation of the spin-Hall effect in a two dimensional spin-orbit coupled semiconductor system
• Comment to "Observation of the neutron radiative decay" by R.U. Khafizov et al., published in JETP Letters 83 (2006) 5 (Pis'ma v ZhETF 83 (2006) 7)
• Zero-bias spin separation
• Magneto-Gyrotropic Photogalvanic Effects in Semiconductor Quantum Wells
• Pure spin photocurrents in low-dimensional structures
• Magnetic field effects on spin relaxation in heterostructures
• Spin orientation of a two-dimensional electron gas by a high-frequency electric field

Cited by in corpus (23)

• Magneto-gyrotropic effects in semiconductor quantum wells (review)
• Zero-bias spin separation
• Helicity sensitive terahertz radiation detection by field effect transistors
• Symmetry and spin dephasing in (110)-grown quantum wells
• Second-order nonlinear optical effects of spin currents
• Terahertz Photogalvanic Spectroscopy of Three Dimensional Topological Insulators
• Quantum Oscillations of Photocurrents in HgTe Quantum Wells with Dirac and Parabolic Dispersions
• Pure spin photocurrents
• Direct measurement of a pure spin current by a polarized light beam
• Spin-polarized electric currents in diluted magnetic semiconductor heterostructures induced by terahertz and microwave radiation
• Highly superlinear photogalvanic effects in (Bi${}_{0.3}$Sb${}_{0.7}$)${}_2$(Te${}_{0.1}$Se${}_{0.9}$)${}_3$: Probing 3D topological insulator surface states at room temperature
• Magneto-gyrotropic photogalvanic effects due to inter-subband absorption in quantum wells
• Edge currents driven by terahertz radiation in graphene in quantum Hall regime
• Kinetic investigation on extrinsic spin Hall effect induced by skew scattering
• Optical spin orientation and depolarization in Ge
• Magneto-gyrotropic photogalvanic effects in GaN/AlGaN two-dimensional systems
• Power dependence of pure spin current injection by quantum interference
• Interplay of spin and orbital magnetogyrotropic photogalvanic effects in InSb/AlInSb quantum well structures
• Spin Resonance and dc Current Generation in a Quantum Wire
• Observation of anomalously strong penetration of terahertz electric field through terahertz-opaque gold films into a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well
• Photogalvanic effect and photoconductance in a quantum channel with a single short-range scatterer
• High-frequency rectification in graphene lateral p-n junctions
• Optical effects of spin currents in semiconductors