Spin-split Subbands Research Articles

In-plane gate induced transition asymmetry of spin-resolved Landau levels in InAs-based quantum wells

The crossover from quasi-two- to quasi-one-dimensional electron transport subject to transverse electric fields and perpendicular magnetic fields is studied in the diffusive to quasi-ballistic and zero-field to quantum Hall regime. In-plane gates and Hall-bars have been fabricated from an InGaAs/InAlAs/InAs quantum well hosting a 2DEG with a carrier density of about 6.8 × 1011 cm−2, a mobility of 1.8 × 105 cm2/Vs, and an effective mass of 0.042me after illumination. Magnetotransport measurements at temperatures down to 50 mK and fields up to 12 T yield a high effective Landé factor of g*=16, enabling the resolution of spin-split subbands at magnetic fields of 2.5 T. In the quantum Hall regime, electrostatic control of an effective constriction width enables steering of the reflection and transmission of edge channels, allowing a separation of fully spin-polarized edge channels at filling factors ν = 1 und ν = 2. A change in the orientation of a transverse in-plane electric field in the constriction shifts the transition between Zeeman-split quantum Hall plateaus by ΔB ≈ 0.1 T and is consistent with an effective magnetic field of Beff ≈ 0.13 T by spin-dependent backscattering, indicating a change in the spin-split density of states.

Elucidating Λ-doublet splittings and rotational quantum number-dependent collisional broadenings in 2∏1/2 and 2∏3/2 spin-split sub-bands of NO at 5.2 µm

High-resolution ro-vibrational spectroscopic features of nitric oxide (NO) are particularly interesting because of the unpaired electron and non-zero nuclear spin of the nitrogen atom. Here, ultra-sensitive cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) coupled with an external-cavity quantum cascade laser (EC-QCL) radiation source was employed to measure the rotationally-resolved fine structure Λ-doublet splittings between the parity doublet e and f components in the (2∏1/2 - 2∏1/2) and (2∏3/2 - 2∏3/2) allowed sub-bands of the v = 1 ← 0 fundamental vibrational band of NO molecule near 5.2 µm. Subsequently, we determined several principal spectroscopic parameters such as the Λ-doubling constants, vibrational transition dipole moments and the Herman-Wallis coefficients for both e and f Λ-doublet components by probing various R-branch rotational lines (J = 0.5 to 23.5) of the studied spin-split sub-bands of NO associated with spin–orbit interaction. In addition, we performed the pressure broadening effect on the Λ-doublet splittings in collision with three vital perturbing gases at room temperature (296 K) and accurately determined the pressure broadening coefficients, γi (e,f) in cm-1atm−1 [(i = He, Ar and Zero air (mainly N2 + O2)] along with their dependence on the rotational quantum number (J). We observed the pronounced collision-induced rotational quantum effect and the result of rotationally inelastic collision in the system for each collision partner. All these measured high-resolution new spectroscopic parameters over 33 ro-vibrational transitions via an EC-QCL based CRDS method will help significantly in interpreting fundamental molecular properties of this diatomic NO molecule.

Valley spin-acoustic resonance in MoS2 monolayers

The band structure of a monolayer MoS$_2$ comprises of spin-split subbands, owing to the mutual presence of broken inversion symmetry and strong spin-orbit coupling. In the conduction band, spin-valley coupled subbands cross each other at finite momenta, and they are valley-degenerate. When exposed to surface acoustic waves, the emerging strain-induced effective magnetic field can give rise to spin-flip transitions between the spin-split subbands in the vicinity of subbands crossing point, resulting in the emergence of a spin-acoustic resonance and the acoustoelectric current. An external magnetic field breaks the valley degeneracy resulting in the valley-selective splitting of spin-acoustic resonances both in surface acoustic wave absorption and acoustoelectric current.

Excitonic Complexes in n-Doped WS2 Monolayer.

We investigate the origin of emission lines apparent in the low-temperature photoluminescence spectra of n-doped WS2 monolayer embedded in hexagonal BN layers using external magnetic fields and first-principles calculations. Apart from the neutral A exciton line, all observed emission lines are related to the negatively charged excitons. Consequently, we identify emissions due to both the bright (singlet and triplet) and dark (spin- and momentum-forbidden) negative trions as well as the phonon replicas of the latter optically inactive complexes. The semidark trions and negative biexcitons are distinguished. On the basis of their experimentally extracted and theoretically calculated g-factors, we identify three distinct families of emissions due to exciton complexes in WS2: bright, intravalley, and intervalley dark. The g-factors of the spin-split subbands in both the conduction and valence bands are also determined.

Observing dynamic and static Rashba effects in a thin layer of 3D hybrid perovskite nanocrystals using transient absorption spectroscopy

The dynamic and static Rashba effects in hybrid methylammonium (MA) lead halide perovskites have recently been theoretically predicted. However, only the static effect was experimentally confirmed so far. Here, we report on the dynamic (sub-picosecond/picosecond timescale) and static (nanosecond/microsecond timescale) Rashba effects observed in a fully encapsulated layer with various thicknesses (ranging from ∼40 nm to ∼100 nm) of ∼20-nm-sized 3D MAPbBr3 nanocrystals (NCs) using transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy. The effect appears as a splitting of the corresponding peaks in TA spectra. We argue that the physical reason for the Rashba effect to be observed is fundamentally determined by configurational entropy loss in NCs possessing a strong spin asymmetry. Specifically, owing to an enhanced flexibility of the NC lattice, a built-in electric field initially induced by an ultrashort (100 fs) pumping pulse through the photo-Dember effect and subsequently developed due to dynamic charge separation throughout NCs is able to initiate the order–disorder transition associated with the MA cation reorientations, the process that efficiently breaks structural inversion symmetry and hence induces the Rashba spin–orbit interaction. The dynamic Rashba effect is found to be strongly dependent on photoexcited carrier density (pumping power), whereas it weakens sharply upon increasing the NC layer thickness up to ∼80 nm due to the NC stacking effect. The integrated intensities of the corresponding spin-split subbands demonstrate a photon-helicity-dependent asymmetry, thus proving the Rashba-type spin-splitting. The magnitudes of the Rashba and Fröhlich polaron effects and the methods of controlling the dynamic Rashba effect are discussed.

Observation of the Spin-Orbit Gap in Bilayer Graphene by One-Dimensional Ballistic Transport.

We report on measurements of quantized conductance in gate-defined quantum point contacts in bilayer graphene that allow the observation of subband splittings due to spin-orbit coupling. The size of this splitting can be tuned from 40 to 80 μeV by the displacement field. We assign this gate-tunable subband splitting to a gap induced by spin-orbit coupling of Kane-Mele type, enhanced by proximity effects due to the substrate. We show that this spin-orbit coupling gives rise to a complex pattern in low perpendicular magnetic fields, increasing the Zeeman splitting in one valley and suppressing it in the other one. In addition, we observe a spin polarized channel of 6e^{2}/h at high in-plane magnetic field and signatures of interaction effects at the crossings of spin-split subbands of opposite spins at finite magnetic field.

Probing and Manipulating Valley Coherence of Dark Excitons in Monolayer WSe_{2}.

Monolayers of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides are two-dimensional direct-gap systems which host tightly bound excitons with an internal degree of freedom corresponding to the valley of the constituting carriers. Strong spin-orbit interaction and the resulting ordering of the spin-split subbands in the valence and conduction bands makes the lowest-lying excitons in WX_{2} (X being S or Se) spin forbidden and optically dark. With polarization-resolved photoluminescence experiments performed on a WSe_{2} monolayer encapsulated in a hexagonal boron nitride, we show how the intrinsic exchange interaction in combination with the applied in-plane and/or out-of-plane magnetic fields enables one to probe and manipulate the valley degree of freedom of the dark excitons.

Gate-tunable electronic transport in p -type GaSb quantum wells

We investigate two-dimensional hole transport in GaSb quantum wells at cryogenic temperatures using gate-tunable devices. Measurements probing the valence band structure of GaSb unveil a significant spin splitting of the ground subband induced by spin-orbit coupling. We characterize the carrier densities, effective masses and quantum scattering times of these spin-split subbands and find that the results are in agreement with band structure calculations. Additionally, we study the weak anti-localization correction to the conductivity present around zero magnetic field and obtain information on the phase coherence. These results establish GaSb quantum wells as a platform for two-dimensional hole physics and lay the foundations for future experiments in this system.

Detection and Control of Spin-Orbit Interactions in a GaAs Hole Quantum Point Contact.

We investigate the relationship between the Zeeman interaction and the inversion-asymmetry-induced spin-orbit interactions (Rashba and Dresselhaus SOIs) in GaAs hole quantum point contacts. The presence of a strong SOI results in the crossing and anticrossing of adjacent spin-split hole subbands in a magnetic field. We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the anticrossing energy gap depends on the interplay between the SOI terms and the highly anisotropic hole g tensor and that this interplay can be tuned by selecting the crystal axis along which the current and magnetic field are aligned. Our results constitute the independent detection and control of the Dresselhaus and Rashba SOIs in hole systems, which could be of importance for spintronics and quantum information applications.

Theory of light-induced effective magnetic field in Rashba ferromagnets

Motivated by recent experiments on all-optical magnetization reversal in conductive ferromagnetic thin films we use nonequilibrium formalism to calculate the effective magnetic field induced in a Rashba ferromagnet by a short laser pulse. The main contribution to the effect originates in the direct optical transitions between spin-split subbands. The resulting effective magnetic field is inversely proportional to the impurity scattering rate and can reach the amplitude of a few Tesla in the systems like Co/Pt bilayers. We showthat the total light-induced effective magnetic field in ferromagnetic systems is the sum of two contributions: a helicity dependent term, which is an even function of magnetization, and a helicity independent term, which is an odd function of magnetization. The primary role of the spin-orbit interaction is to widen the frequency range for direct optical transitions.

Spin susceptibilities in armchair graphene nanoribbons with Rashba spin–orbit coupling

Based on linear response theory, we studied the spin susceptibilities of armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) with Rashba spin–orbit coupling (RSOC) in an oscillating magnetic field. It is shown that by tuning the field frequency, RSOC or ribbon width to satisfy the resonance condition, the spins in AGNRs will be effectively magnetized at room temperature due to the electron transitions between RSOC-induced spin-split subbands. Moreover, in this process the magnitude of spin magnetization can also be flexibly manipulated by selecting different resonant frequency or RSOC. Thus, we provide a promisingly well-controlled scheme for the spin magnetization of AGNRs, which is useful for spintronics applications.

Resonant Landau–Zener transitions in a helical magnetic field

Spin-dependent electron transport has been studied in magnetic semiconductor waveguides (nanowires) in the helical magnetic field. We have shown that—apart from the well-known conductance dip located at the magnetic field equal to the helical-field amplitude Bh—the additional conductance dips (with zero conductance) appear at a magnetic field different from Bh. This effect occurring in the non-adiabatic regime is explained as resulting from the resonant Landau–Zener transitions between the spin-split subbands.

Effect of Fe doping on magnetoresistance and exchange coupling of Fe-doped ITO films

The magneto-transport properties of Fe-doped ITO films with various carrier concentrations ranging from 2.1×1019 to 1.7×1018cm−3 were investigated systematically. Temperature dependent resistivity data suggested the conduction mechanism is dominated by Mott variable range hopping (VRH) behavior at low temperature, confirming that the carriers are strongly localized. The magnetoresistance (MR) behavior systematically depends on Fe doping and carrier concentration. The low Fe-doped ITO films with high carrier concentration only show a negative MR component at different temperatures, whereas high Fe doped films with low carrier concentration switch the MR sign and the positive MR component dominates at high field at 10K. The MR data could be well fitted by presuming the spin-dependent scattering due to the third-order s–d exchange interaction for the negative MR and a two spin split subband model for the positive MR contribution. These results suggest that the Fe doping can remarkably tune the band structure and exchange interaction in wide band gap oxides.

Collective modes in two- and three-dimensional electron systems with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

In addition to charge plasmons, a 2D electron system with Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling (SOC) also supports three collective modes in the spin sector: the chiral-spin modes. We study the dispersions of the charge and spin modes and their coupling to each other within a generalized Random Phase Approximation for arbitrarily strong SOC, and both in 2D and 3D systems. In both 2D and 3D, we find that the charge plasmons are coupled to only one of the three chiral-spin modes. This coupling is shown to affect the dispersions of the modes at finite but not at zero wavenumbers. In 3D, the chiral-spin modes are strongly damped by particle-hole excitations and disappear for weak electron-electron interaction. Landau damping of the chiral-spin modes in 3D is directly related to the fact that, in contrast to 2D, there is no gap for particle-hole excitations between spin-split subbands. The gapless continuum is also responsible for Landau damping of the charge plasmon in 3D - a qualitatively new feature of the SOC system. We also discuss the optical conductivity of clean 2D and 3D systems and show that SOC introduces spectral weight at finite frequency in a such way that the sum rule is satisfied. The in-plane tranverse chiral-spin mode shows up as dispersing peak in the optical conductivity at finite number which can can be measured in the presence of diffraction grating. We also discuss possible experimental manifestations of chiral-spin modes in semiconductor quantum wells such InGaAs/AlGaAs and 3D giant Rashba materials of the BiTeI family.

Zero-field spin-splitting and effective masses in p-type GaAs two-dimensional hole gases

We present magnetotransport measurements performed on two-dimensional hole gases embedded in carbon doped p-type GaAs/AlGaAs hetorostructures grown on [001] oriented substrates. A pronounced beating pattern in the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations proves the presence of strong spin-orbit interaction in the device under study. We estimate the effective masses of spin-split subbands by measuring the temperature dependence of the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations at different hole densities. While the lighter heavy-hole effective mass is not energy dependent, the heavier heavy-hole effective mass has a prominent energy dependence, indicating a strong spin-orbit induced non parabolicity of the valence band. The measured effective masses show qualitative agreement with self-consistent numerical calculations.

Magnetoresistance in Mn ion-implanted GaAs:Zn nanowires

We have investigated the magnetoresistance (MR) in a series of Zn doped (p-type) GaAs nanowires implanted with different Mn concentrations. The nanowires with the lowest Mn concentration (∼0.0001%) exhibit a low resistance of a few kΩ at 300 K and a 4% positive MR at 1.6 K, which can be well described by invoking a spin-split subband model. In contrast, nanowires with the highest Mn concentration (4%) display a large resistance of several MΩ at 300 K and a large negative MR of 85% at 1.6 K. The large negative MR is interpreted in terms of spin-dependent hopping in a complex magnetic nanowire landscape of magnetic polarons, separated by intermediate regions of Mn impurity spins. Sweeping the magnetic field back and forth for the 4% sample reveals a hysteresis that indicates the presence of a weak ferromagnetic phase. We propose co-doping with Zn to be a promising way to reach the goal of realizing ferromagnetic Ga1−xMnxAs nanowires for future nanospintronics.

Inelastic light-scattering from spin-density excitations in the regime of the persistent spin helix in a GaAs-AlGaAs quantum well

We have investigated the intrasubband spin-density excitation (SDE) in an asymmetrically doped GaAs-AlGaAs single quantum well with balanced Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction strengths by inelastic light scattering. For this unique symmetry, the combined spin-orbit field is either parallel or antiparallel to the [11¯0] in-plane direction of the quantum well for all wave vectors of the two-dimensional reciprocal space. In backscattering geometry, the SDE is formed by spin-flip intrasubband transitions of the spin-split subband. Via the splitting of the intrasubband SDE, we have directly detected the spin splitting of the conduction band due to the anisotropic spin-orbit field. As expected, the splitting is nonzero if a wave vector is transferred perpendicular to the direction of the spin-orbit field and close to zero for a parallel wave-vector transfer. The extracted values for the spin-orbit strength and for the wavelength of a persistent spin helix compare well with results of previous experiments of direct spatial mapping of the spin helix.

Enhanced Anisotropic Effective g Factors of an Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN Heterostructure Based Quantum Point Contact

Gate-defined quantum point contacts (QPCs) were fabricated with Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). In the transport study of the Zeeman effect, greatly enhanced effective g factors (g*) were obtained. The in-plane g* is found to be 5.5 ± 0.6, 4.8 ± 0.4, and 4.2 ± 0.4 for the first to the third subband, respectively. Similarly, the out-of-plane g* is 8.3 ± 0.6, 6.7 ± 0.7, and 5.1 ± 0.7. Increasing g* with the population of odd-numbered spin-splitted subbands are obtained at 14 T. This portion of increase is assumed to arise from the exchange interaction in one-dimensional systems. A careful analysis shows that not only the exchange interaction but the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in the strongly confined QPC contributes to the enhancement and anisotropy of g* in different subbands. An approach to distinguish the respective contributions from the SOI and exchange interaction is therefore proposed.

Strongly Spin-Orbit Coupled Two-Dimensional Electron Gas Emerging near the Surface of Polar Semiconductors

We investigate the two-dimensional highly spin-polarized electron accumulation layers commonly appearing near the surface of n-type polar semiconductors BiTeX (X=I, Br, and Cl) by angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Because of the polarity and the strong spin-orbit interaction built in the bulk atomic configurations, the quantized conduction-band subbands show giant Rashba-type spin splitting. The characteristic 2D confinement effect is clearly observed also in the valence bands down to the binding energy of 4 eV. The X-dependent Rashba spin-orbit coupling is directly estimated from the observed spin-split subbands, which roughly scales with the inverse of the band-gap size in BiTeX.

Energy dispersion and electron g-factor of quantum wire in external electric and magnetic fields with Rashba spin orbit interaction

We study the energy dispersion relations of the spin split subbands in a quantum wire subjected to external transverse electric and magnetic fields in the presence of Rashba spin orbit interaction. For an infinite superlattice wire, we find that the energy gaps between different subbands are shifted due to Rashba spin orbit interaction and external electric field. We have also determined the electron g-factor for various subbands in quantum wire and it is shown that the g-factor is strongly affected by the combined effects of external electric field, magnetic field and Rashba spin orbit interaction strength.