Effect of symmetry reduction on the spin dynamics of (001)-oriented GaAs quantum wells

D. J. English, J. Hübner, P. S. Eldridge, D. Taylor, M. Henini, R. T. Harley, and M. Oestreich
Phys. Rev. B 87, 075304 – Published 6 February 2013

Abstract

Spin quantum beat spectroscopy is employed to investigate the in-plane anisotropy of the spin dynamics in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells induced by an external electric field. This technique allows the anisotropy of the spin relaxation rate Γs and the electron Landé g factor g* to be measured simultaneously. The measurements are compared to similar data from (001) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells with applied shear strain and asymmetric barrier growth. All of these operations act to reduce the symmetry compared to that of a symmetric (001) quantum well in an identical manner (D2d C2v). However, by looking at the anisotropy of both Γs and g* simultaneously we show that the microscopic actions of these symmetry breaking operations are very different. The experiments attest that although symmetry arguments are a very useful tool to identify the allowed spin dependent properties of a material system, only a microscopic approach reveals if allowed anisotropies will manifest.

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  • Received 21 December 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.87.075304

©2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

D. J. English1, J. Hübner1, P. S. Eldridge2, D. Taylor3, M. Henini3,*, R. T. Harley4, and M. Oestreich1

  • 1Institute for Solid State Physics, Leibniz University of Hannover, Appelstr. 2, 30167 Hannover, Germany
  • 2Foundation for Research and Technology, IESL, PO Box 1527, 71110, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
  • 3School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 4RD, United Kingdom
  • 4School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom

  • *Also at: Nottingham Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre.

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Vol. 87, Iss. 7 — 15 February 2013

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