Highly anisotropic Zeeman splittings of wurtzite Cd1-xMnxSe quantum dots

The electronic structure and Zeeman splittings of wurtzite Cd1-xMnxSe quantum spheres are studied using the k center dot p method and mean-field model. It is interesting to find that the Zeeman splittings of some hole states in quantum spheres are highly anisotropic due to the spin-orbit coupling and wurtzite crystal structure. The anisotropy of the Zeeman splittings of hole ground states in large dots is large, while that in small dot is small because the hole ground states vary with radius. An external electrical field can change the Zeeman splitting significantly, and tune the g factor from nearly 0 to about 100.

Weak antilocalization and beating pattern in an InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well

We have observed the weak antilocalization (WAL) and beating SdH oscillation through magnetotransport measurements performed on a heavily delta-doped In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.5Al0.48As single quantum well in an applied magnetic field up to 13 T and a temperature at 1.5 K. Both effects are caused by the strong Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling due to high structure inversion asymmetry (SIA). The Rashba SO coupling constant alpha and zerotield spin splitting Delta(0) are estimated and the obtained values are consistent from different analysis for this sample. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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.

Mesoscopic Fano effect modulated by Rashba spin-orbit coupling and external magnetic field

By employing non-equilibrium Green's function method, the mesoscopic Fano effect modulated by Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling and external magnetic field has been elucidated for electron transport through a hybrid system composed of a quantum dot (QD) and an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring. The results show that the orientation of the Fano line shape is modulated by the Rashba spin-orbit interaction k(R)L variation, which reveals that the Fano parameter q will be extended to a complex number, although the system maintains time-reversal symmetry (TRS) under the Rashba SO interaction. Furthermore, it is shown that the modulation of the external magnetic field, which is applied not only inside the frame, but also on the QD, leads to the Fano resonance split due to Zeeman effect, which indicates that the hybrid is an ideal candidate for the spin readout device. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Geometrical-confinement effects on two electrons in elliptical quantum dots

The effects of the geometrical shape on two electrons confined in a two-dimensional parabolic quantum dot and subjected to an external uniform magnetic field have been calculated using a variational-perturbation method based on a direct construction of trial wave functions. The calculations show that both the energy levels and the spin transition of two electrons in elliptical quantum dots are dramatically influenced by the shape of the dots. The ground states with total spin S=0 and S=1 are affected greatly by changing the magnetic field and the geometrical confinement. The quantum behavior of elliptical quantum dots show some relation to that of laterally coupled quantum dots. For a special geometric configuration of the confinement omega(y)/omega(x)=2.0, we encounter a characteristic magnetic field at which spin singlet-triplet crossover occurs. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Exciton spin splitting in ultrathin InAs layers

Unique spin splitting behaviors in ultrathin InAs layers, which show very different spin splitting characteristics between the InAs monolayer (ML) and submonolayer (SML) have been observed. While distinct spin splitting is observed in an InAs ML, no visible spin splitting is found in a 1/3 ML InAs SML. In addition, the spin relaxation time in the 1/3 ML InAs is found to be much longer than that in the 1 ML sample. These results are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction that the interexcitonic exchange interaction plays a dominant role in energy splitting, while the intraexciton exchange interaction controls the spin relaxation. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Spin states and persistent currents in mesoscopic rings: Spin-orbit interactions

We investigate theoretically electron spin states in one-dimensional and two-dimensional (2D) hard-wall mesoscopic rings in the presence of both the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (RSOI) and the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction (DSOI) in a perpendicular magnetic field. The Hamiltonian of the RSOI alone is mathematically equivalent to that of the DSOI alone using an SU(2) spin rotation transformation. Our theoretical results show that the interplay between the RSOI and DSOI results in an effective periodic potential, which consequently leads to gaps in the energy spectrum. This periodic potential also weakens and smoothens the oscillations of the persistent charge current and spin current and results in the localization of electrons. For a 2D ring with a finite width, higher radial modes destroy the periodic oscillations of persistent currents.

Giant Zeeman splitting in manganese-doped ZnSe quantum spheres: Eight-band effective-mass calculations

We deduce the eight-band effective-mass Hamiltonian model for a manganese-doped ZnSe quantum sphere in the presence of the magnetic field, including the interaction between the conduction and valence bands, the spin-orbit coupling within the valence bands, the intrinsic spin Zeeman splitting, and the sp-d exchange interaction between the carriers and magnetic ion in the mean-field approximation. The size dependence of the electron and hole energy levels as well as the giant Zeeman splitting energies are studied theoretically. We find that the hole giant Zeeman splitting energies decrease with the increasing radius, smaller than that in the bulk material, and are different for different J(z) states, which are caused by the quantum confinement effect. Because the quantum sphere restrains the excited Landau states and exciton states, in the experiments we can observe directly the Zeeman splitting of basic states. At low magnetic field, the total Zeeman splitting energy increases linearly with the increasing magnetic field and saturates at modest field which is in agreement with recent experimental results. Comparing to the undoped case, the Zeeman splitting energy is 445 times larger which provides us with wide freedom to tailor the electronic structure of DMS nanocrystals for technological applications.

Spin-polarized transport through an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We study electron transport through an Aharonov-Bohm (AB) interferometer with a noninteracting quantum dot in each of its arms. Both a magnetic flux phi threading through the AB ring and the Rashba spin-orbit (SO) interaction inside the two dots are taken into account. Due to the existence of the SO interaction, the electrons flowing through different arms of the AB ring will acquire a spin-dependent phase factor in the tunnel-coupling strengths. This phase factor, as well as the influence of the magnetic flux, will induce various interesting interference phenomena. We show that the conductance and the local density of states can become spin polarized by tuning the magnetic flux and the Rashba interaction strength. Under certain circumstances, a pure spin-up or spin-down conductance can be obtained when a spin-unpolarized current is injected from the external leads. Therefore, the electron spin can be manipulated by adjusting the Rashba spin-orbit strength and the structure parameters. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Charge-density and spin-density excitations in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling

We study theoretically the charge-density and spin-density excitations in a two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field and a Rashba type spin-orbit coupling. The dispersion and the corresponding intensity of excitations in the vicinity of cyclotron resonance frequency are calculated within the framework of random phase approximation. The dependence of excitation dispersion on various system parameters, i.e., the Rashba spin-orbit interaction strength, the electron density, the Zeeman spin splitting, and the Coulomb interaction strength is investigated.

Photoinduced spin alignment of the magnetic ions in (Ga,Mn)As

Time-resolved Kerr rotation measurement in the (Ga,Mn)As diluted magnetic semiconductor allows direct observation of the dynamical properties of the spin system of the magnetic ions and the spin-polarized holes. Experimental results show that the magnetic ions can be aligned by the polarized holes, and the time scales of spin alignment and relaxation take place in tens and hundreds of picoseconds, respectively. The Larmor frequency and effective g factor obtained in the Voigt geometry show an unusual temperature dependence in the vicinity of the Curie temperature due to the exchange coupling between the photoexcited holes and magnetic ions. Such a spin coherent precession can be amplified or destructed by two sequential excitation pulses with circularly copolarized or oppositely polarized helicity, respectively. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

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.

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.

Effect of nonradiative recombination on carrier dynamics in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells

The nonradiative recombination effect on carrier dynamics in GaInNAs/GaAs quantum wells is studied by time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and polarization-dependent TRPL at various excitation intensities. It is found that both recombination dynamics and spin relaxation dynamics strongly depend on the excitation intensity. Under moderate excitation intensities the PL decay curves exhibit unusual non-exponential behaviour. This result is well stimulated by a rate equation involving both the radiative and non-radiative recombinations via the introduction of a new parameter of the effective concentration of nonradiative recombination centres in the rate equation. In the spin dynamics study, the spin relaxation also shows strong excitation power dependence. Under the high excitation power an increase of spin polarization degree with time is observed. This new finding provides a useful hint that the spin process can be controlled by excitation power in GaInNAs systems.

Quantum coherence control of solid-state charge qubit by means of a suboptimal feedback algorithm

The quantum coherence control of a solid-state charge qubit is studied by using a suboptimal continuous feedback algorithm within the Bayesian feedback scheme. For the coherent Rabi oscillation, the present algorithm suggests a simple bang-bang control protocol, in which the control parameter is modulated between two values. For the coherence protection of the idle state, the present approach is applicable to arbitrary states, including those lying on the equator of the Bloch sphere which are out of control in the previous Markovian feedback scheme.