Spin injection and circular polarized electroluminescence from InAs-based spin-light emitting diode structures

Abstract

We have investigated circularly polarized electroluminescence (EL) from hybrid II-Mn-VI/III–V light emitting diodes (LED’s) at low temperatures in magnetic fields upto 10 T. Both magnetic (the Brillouin paramagnet Cd1−xMnxSe) and nonmagnetic (CdSe) injectors were studied. Electrons, spin unpolarized (n-CdSe) or spin-polarized (n-CdMnSe), were injected into wide InAs quantum wells, where they recombined with unpolarized holes injected from p-type InAs/AlAsSb layers. Detailed measurements and modeling of the circular polarization of the resulting midinfrared EL were carried out to explore and quantify the additional complexities of this materials system compared with the extensively studied GaAs-based spin-LED structures. We show that optical and spin polarization in narrow gap semiconductors such as InAs are not simply related to each other. To analyze the complex relationship, we have developed and used a detailed rate equation model, which incorporates the band-structure of electrons and holes in a magnetic field, a finite ratio of recombination and spin-flip times, and the spin polarization of the CdMnSe spin-aligner as a function of injection current. The latter was determined in situ by circular polarized photoluminescence measurements on the injector material. Experimentally, the circular polarization degrees of magnetic and nonmagnetic structures are observed to be very similar, when the magnetic samples have low effective Mn incorporation. This results from a combination of the consequently low spin polarization of the aligner and comparable spin and recombination life times in InAs.