Abstract
We experimentally studied the magneto-photocurrents generated by direct interband transition in InAs/GaSb type II superlattice. By varying the magnetic field direction, we observed that an in-plane magnetic field induces a photocurrent linearly proportional to the magnetic field; however, a magnetic field tilted to the sample plane induces a photocurrent presenting quadratic magnetic field dependence. The magneto-photocurrents in both conditions are insensitive to the polarization state of the incident light. Theoretical models involving excitation, relaxation and Hall effect are utilized to explain the experimental results.
Highlights
Spin-polarized transport has been a main topic of spintronics
The spin-orbit interaction (SOI) generates the spin-dependent asymmetric transition matrix elements and scattering matrix elements in excitation and relaxation processes, respectively, which lead to the asymmetric distribution of electrons in each spin-splitting subband
We speculated that the co-effect of the anisotropic SOI and g∗ make Jpp in the [100] and [010] crystallographic directions larger
Summary
Spin-polarized transport has been a main topic of spintronics. Optical injection has been widely used to generate a spin current [1,2]. In low-dimensional semiconductor structures which possess structure inversion asymmetry (SIA) or bulk inversion asymmetry (BIA), the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) lifts the spin degeneracy in k space and leads to a linear spin splitting [3]. A normally incident linearly polarized or unpolarized light can excite identical amount of nonequilibrium carriers with opposite spins and velocities to the spin-splitting subbands, leading to a spin photocurrent, accompanied by no electric current. Direct detection of the spin current is difficult for the absence of net current and polarization. The spin-polarized magneto-photocurrent provides an effective approach to research the spin current
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