Nonlinear birefringence and time-resolved Kerr measurement of spin lifetimes in (110) GaAs/AlyGa1-yAs quantum wells

作者:Eldridge P S*; Lagoudakis P G; Henini M; Harley R T
来源:Physical Review B, 2010, 81(3): 033302.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.81.033302

摘要

We report a study of the nonlinear birefringence in undoped (110)-oriented GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells using time-resolved pump-probe Kerr spectroscopy. Due to the optical anisotropy of the (110) quantum well plane, photoexcited carriers can give rise to a nonlinear birefringence and so cause probe polarization rotation independent of the pump polarization, i.e., independent of spin orientation. We develop a methodology for accurate determination of electron-spin lifetimes using the Kerr technique which takes account of this phenomenon and present room-temperature measurements of wavelength and power density dependence of the spin-relaxation rate.

  • 出版日期2010-1