Optical and electrical control of spin polarization of two-dimensional hole gases in p-type resonant tunnelling devices

Abstract

In this work, we have investigated the spin polarization from two-dimensional hole gases (2DHG) formed in p–i–p GaAs/AlAs resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) under magnetic field parallel to the tunnel current. We have observed that the polarization degree from the quantum well (QW) and the 2DHG formed at the accumulation layer is highly voltage and light sensitive and exhibits a clear sign inversion. Our results indicate that the voltage dependence of the QW polarization degree is mainly due to an efficient hole-resonant tunnelling process through spin states of the QW. On the other hand, the voltage dependence of the 2DHG polarization degree seems to be dependent on the hole density which is controlled by the applied voltage across the RTDs.