Electron and hole states in diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots

The electronic structure of a diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) quantum dot (QD) is studied within the framework of the effective-mass theory. We find that the energies of the electron with different spin orientation exhibit different behavior as a function of magnetic field at small magnetic fields. The energies of the hole decreases rapidly at low magnetic fields and saturate at higher magnetic field due to the sp-d exchange interaction between the carriers and the magnetic ions. The mixing effect of the hole states in the DMS QD can be tuned by changing the external magnetic field. An interesting crossing behavior of the hole ground state between the heavy-hole state and the light-hole state is found with variation of the QD radius. The strength of the interband optical transition for different circular polarization exhibts quite different behavior with increasing magnetic field and QD radius.

Photon-assisted Fano resonance and corresponding shot noise in a quantum dot

We have studied the Fano resonance in photon-assisted transport through a quantum dot. Both the coherent current and the spectral density of shot noise have been calculated. It is predicted that the shape of the Fano profile will also appear in satellite peaks. It is found that the variations of Fano profiles with the strengths of nonresonant transmissions are not synchronous in absorption and emission sidebands. The effect of interference on photon-assisted pumped current has also been investigated. We further predict the current and spectral density of shot noise as a periodic function of the phase, which exhibits an intrinsic property of resonant and nonresonant channels in the structures.

Spin-dependent tunneling through a symmetric semiconductor barrier: The Dresselhaus effect

Spin-dependent tunneling through a symmetric semiconductor barrier is studied including the k(3) Dresselhaus effect. The spin-dependent transmission of an electron can be obtained analytically. By comparing with previous work [Phys. Rev. B 67, 201304(R) (2003) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 056601 (2004)], it is shown that the spin polarization and interface current are changed significantly by including the off-diagonal elements in the current operator, and can be enhanced considerably by the Dresselhaus effect in the contact regions.

Electronic structure of self-assembled InAs quantum discs in a magnetic field with varying orientation and two-electron quantum-disc qubits

We have studied the electronic structure of vertically assembled quantum discs in a magnetic field with varying orientation using the effective mass approximation. We calculate the four energy levels of single-electron quantum discs and the two lowest energy levels of two-electron quantum discs in a magnetic field with varying orientation. The change of the magnetic field as an effective potential strongly modifies the electronic structure, leading to splittings of the levels and anticrossings between the levels. The calculated results also demonstrate the switching between the ground states with the total spin S = 0 and 1. The switching induces a qubit controlled by varying the orientation of the magnetic field.

Role of interactions in electronic structure of a two-electron quantum dot molecule

We have studied a two-electron quantum dot molecule in a magnetic field. The electron interaction is treated accurately by the direct diagonalization of the Hamiltonian matrix. We calculate two lowest energy levels of the two-electron quantum dot molecule in a magnetic field. Our results show that the electron interactions are significant, as they can change the total spin of the two-electron ground state of the system by adjusting the magnetic field between S = 0 and S = 1. The energy difference DeltaE between the lowest S = 0 and S = 1 states is shown as a function of the axial magnetic field. We found that the energy difference between the lowest S = 0 and S = 1 states in the strong-B S = 0 state varies linearly. Our results provide a possible realization for a qubit to be fabricated by current growth techniques.

Circular photogalvanic effect of the two-dimensional electron gas in AlXGa1-XN/GaN heterostructures under uniaxial strain

The circular photogalvanic effect (CPGE) of the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN heterostructures induced by infrared radiation has been investigated under uniaxial strain. The observed photocurrent consists of the superposition of the CPGE and the linear photogalvanic effect currents, both of which are up to 10(-2) nA. The amplitude of the CPGE current increases linearly with additional strain and is enhanced by 18.6% with a strain of 2.2x10(-3). Based on the experimental results, the contribution of bulk-inversion asymmetry (BIA) and structure-inversion asymmetry (SIA) spin splitting of the 2DEG to the CPGE current in the heterostructures is separated, and the ratio of SIA and BIA terms is estimated to be about 13.2, indicating that the SIA is the dominant mechanism to induce the k-linear spin splitting of the subbands in the triangular quantum well at AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterointerfaces. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Room-temperature spin-oriented photocurrent under near-infrared irradiation and comparison of optical means with Shubnikov de-Haas measurements in AlXGa1-XN/GaN heterostructures

The admixture of linear and circular photogalvanic effects and (CPGEs) in AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures has been investigated quantitatively by near-infrared irradiation at room temperature. The spin-based photocurrent that the authors have observed solidly indicates the sizable spin-orbital interaction of the two-dimensional electron gas in the heterostructures. Further analysis shows consistency between studies by optical and magnetic (Shubnikov de-Haas) measurements on the spin-orbital coupling effects among different AlxGa1-xN/GaN heterostructures, indicating that the CPGE measurement is a good way to investigate the spin splitting and the spin polarization in semiconductors. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Spin Hall effect of excitons with spin-orbit coupling

The center-of-mass motion of a quasi-two-dimensional exciton with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the presence of a perpendicular electric field is calculated by perturbation theory. The results indicate that a quasi-two-dimensional exciton with SOC can exhibit the spin Hall effect (SHE), which is similar to two-dimensional electrons and holes. A likely way to establish exciton SHE in experiments and a possible phase transition from dark to bright state driven by SOC are suggested. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Observation of electric current induced by optically injected spin current

Linearly polarized light at normal incidence injects a spin current into a strip of two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The authors report observation of an electric current when such light is shed on the vincinity of the junction in a crossbar-shaped InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well Rashba system. The polarization dependence of this electric current was experimentally observed to be the same as that of the spin current. The authors attribute the observed electric current to the scattering of the optically injected spin current at the crossing. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Weak anti-localization in InAlAs/InGaAs/InAlAs high mobility two-dimensional electron gas systems

Magneto-transport measurements have been carried out on three heavily Si delta-doped In-0.52 Al-0.48 As/In-0.53 Ga-0.47 As/In-0.52 A(10.48) As single quantum well samples in which two subbands were occupied by electrons. The weak anti-localization (WAL) has been found in such high electron mobility systems. The strong Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling is due to the high structure inversion asymmetry (SIA) of the quantum wells. Since the WAL theory model is so complicated in fitting our experimental results, we obtained the Rashba SO coupling constant alpha and the zero-field spin splitting Delta(0) by an approximate approach. The results are consistent with that obtained by the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillation analysis. The WAL effect in high electron mobility system suggests that finding a useful approach for deducing alpha and Delta(0) is important in designing future spintronics devices that utilize the Rashba SO coupling.

Tunable spin transport in magnetic-electric superlattice

We study the spin-dependent electron transport in a special magnetic-electric superlattice periodically modulated by parallel ferromagnetic metal stripes and Schottky normal-metal stripes. The results show that, the spin-polarized current can be well controllable by modulating the magnetic strength of the ferromagnetic stripes or the voltage applied to the Schottky normal-metal stripes. It is obvious that, to the system of the magnetic superlattice, the polarized current can be enhanced by the magnetic strength of ferromagnetic stripes. Nevertheless, it is found that, for the magnetic-electric superlattice, the polarized current can also be remarkably advanced by the voltage applied to the Schottky normal-metal stripes. These results may indicate a useable approach for tunable spintronic devices. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Interplay between s-d exchange interaction and Rashba effect: Spin-polarized transport

The authors investigate the spin-polarized transport properties of a two-dimensional electron gas in a n-type diluted magnetic narrow gap semiconductor quantum well subjected to perpendicular magnetic and electric fields. Interesting beating patterns in the magnetoresistance are found which can be tuned significantly by varying the electric field. A resonant enhancement of spin-polarized current is found which is induced by the competition between the s-d exchange interaction and the Rashba effect [Y. A. Bychkov and E. I. Rashba, J. Phys. C 17, 6039 (1984)]. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Tunable Fano resonance in photonic crystal slabs

A three dimensional analysis of a special class of anisotropic materials is presented. We introduce an extension of the Scattering Matrix Method (SMM) to investigate the behavior of anisotropic Photonic Crystal Slabs (PhCS) subject to external radiation. We show how the Fano effect can play a fundamental role in the realization of tunable optical devices. Moreover, we show how to utilize electron injection, electric field and temperature as parameters to control the Fano resonance shift in both isotropic and anisotropic materials as Si and Potassium Titanium Oxide Phosphate (KTP). We will see that because Fano modes are sensitive and controllable, a broad range of applications can be considered. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America

Rashba spin-orbit coupling in InSb nanowires under transverse electric field

We investigate the Rashba spin-orbit coupling brought by transverse electric field in InSb nanowires. In small k(z) (k(z) is the wave vector along the wire direction) range, the Rashba spin-orbit splitting energy has a linear relationship with k(z), so we can define a Rashba coefficient similarly to the quantum well case. We deduce some empirical formulas of the spin-orbit splitting energy and Rashba coefficient, and compare them with the effective-mass calculating results. It is interesting to find that the Rashba spin-orbit splitting energy decreases as k(z) increases when k(z) is large due to the k(z)-quadratic term in the band energy. The Rashba coefficient increases with increasing electric field, and shows a saturating trend when the electric field is large. As the radius increases, the Rashba coefficient increases at first, then decreases. The effects of magnetic fields along different directions are discussed. The case where the magnetic field is along the wire direction or the electric field direction are similar. The spin state in an energy band changes smoothly as k(z) changes. The case where the magnetic field is perpendicular to the wire direction and the electric field direction is quite different from the above two cases, the k(z)-positive and negative parts of the energy bands are not symmetrical, and the energy bands with different spins cross at a k(z)-nonzero point, where the spin splitting energy and the effective g factor are zero.

Spin-polarized transport in one-dimensional waveguide structures with spatially periodic electric fields

We investigate theoretically spin-polarized transport in a one-dimensional waveguide structure under spatially periodic electric fields. Strong spin-polarized current can be obtained by tuning the external electric fields. It is interesting to find that the spin-dependent transmissions exhibit gaps at various electron momenta and/or gate lengths, and the gap width increases with increasing the strength of the Rashba effect. The strong spin-polarized current arises from the different transmission gaps of the spin-up and spin-down electrons. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.