Absorption in the Fractional Quantum Hall Regime: Trion Dichroism and Spin Polarization

Abstract

We present measurements of optical interband absorption in the fractional quantum Hall regime in a GaAs quantum well in the range 0<nu<or=1. We investigate the mechanism of singlet trion absorption, and show that its circular dichroism can be used as a probe of the spin polarization of the ground state of the two-dimensional electron system (2DES). We find that at nu<or=1/3 the 2DES is fully spin polarized. Increasing the filling factor results in a gradual depolarization, with a sharp minimum in the dichroism near nu=2/3. We find that in the range 0.5<or=nu<0.85 the 2DES remains partially polarized for the broad range of magnetic fields from 2.75 to 11 T. This is consistent with the presence of a mixture of polarized and depolarized regions.