Modeling optically pumped NMR and spin polarization in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Abstract

Optically-pumped nuclear magnetic resonance (OPNMR) spectroscopy is an emerging technique to probe electronic and nuclear spin properties in bulk and quantum well semiconductors. In OPNMR, one uses optical pumping with light to create spin-polarized electrons in a semiconductor. The electron spin can be transferred to the nuclear spin bath through the Fermi contact hyperfine interaction which can then be detected by conventional NMR. The resulting NMR signal can be enhanced four to five orders of magnitude or more over the thermal equilibrium signal. In previous work, we studied OPNMR in bulk GaAs where we investigated the strength of the OPNMR signal as a function of the pump laser frequency. This allowed us to study the spin-split valence band. Here we report on OPNMR studies in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. We focus on theoretical calculations for the average electron spin polarization at different photon energies for different values of external magnetic field in both unstrained and strained quantum wells. Our calculations allow us to identify the Landau level transitions which are responsible for the peaks in the photon energy dependence of the OPNMR signal intensity. The calculations are based on the 8- band Pidgeon-Brown model generalized to include the effects of the quantum confinement potential as well as pseudomorphic strain at the interfaces. Optical properties are calculated within the golden rule approximation. Detailed comparison to experiment allows one to accurately determine valence band spin splitting in the quantum wells including the effects of strain.