Room-temperature spin photocurrent spectra at interband excitation and comparison with reflectance-difference spectroscopy in InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Abstract

Spectra of the interband spin photocurrent due to Rashba and Dresselhaus spin splittings have been experimentally investigated in InGaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells at room temperature. The Rashba- and Dresselhaus-induced circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) spectra are found to be quite similar in the spectral regions corresponding to the transitions 1e1hh (the first conduction to the first valence sub-band of heavy hole) and 1e2hh. The ratio of Rashba- and Dresselhaus-induced CPGE currents for the transition 1e1hh is estimated to be 4.95. The magnitude of the Rashba-induced CPGE current is up to several tens of nA/W for the transition 1e1hh, which is 1 order of magnitude larger than that obtained in GaN/AlGaN superlattices. Comparing the CPGE spectrum with reflectance-difference and photoreflectance spectra, we find that the large Rashba spin splitting is mainly induced by a large indium atom segregation effect and by the internal field in the quantum wells.