Anomalous photogalvanic effect of circularly polarized light incident on the two-dimensional electron gas in AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures at room temperature

Under normal incidence of circularly polarized light at room temperature, a charge current with swirly distribution has been observed in the two-dimensional electron gas in Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures. We believe that this anomalous charge current is produced by a radial spin current via the reciprocal spin Hall effect. It suggests a new way to research the reciprocal spin Hall effect and spin current on the macroscopic scale and at room temperature.

National Natural Science Foundation of China 60628402 606254021077400160736033National Basic Research Program of China 2006CB604908 2006CB921607 Cultivation Fund of the Key Scientific and Technical Innovation Project Ministry of Education of China 705002 Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education in China 20060001018 We greatly thank Professor K. Chang from the Institute of Semiconductors CAS for the helpful discussions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 60628402, No. 60625402, No. 10774001, and No. 60736033), National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2006CB604908 and No. 2006CB921607), the Cultivation Fund of the Key Scientific and Technical Innovation Project, Ministry of Education of China (No. 705002), and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education in China (No. 20060001018).