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Ultrafast optical imaging of the spin Hall effect of light in semiconductors

Jean-Michel Ménard, Adam E. Mattacchione, Henry M. van Driel, Christine Hautmann, and Markus Betz
Phys. Rev. B 82, 045303 – Published 6 July 2010
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Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a general optical pump-probe technique to observe the spin Hall effect of light (SHEL) in an absorbing medium. In essence, a locally confined pump-induced modification of a material’s absorptivity can effectively be used as an induced aperture allowing one to detect the transversely displaced circular polarization components of an incident beam through differential transmission techniques. We consider linear absorption mechanisms such as free-carrier absorption and Pauli blocking as well as nonlinear absorption processes such as two-photon absorption. For absorption mechanisms that do not depend on light polarization, the SHEL of the probe beam is obtained directly, while polarization-dependent properties give an effective SHEL displacement that depends on the action of the SHEL on both pump and probe beams. Using 150 fs pump, 820 nm pump and probe pulses we observe SHEL effects in silicon via free-carrier absorption. SHEL effects are also observed via Pauli blocking at 820 nm and two-photon absorption at 1550 nm in GaAs using 150fs pump and probe pulses.

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  • Received 26 April 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.045303

©2010 American Physical Society

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Published 6 July 2010

A little-known and subtle optical effect in combination with state-of-the-art pulsed laser techniques holds considerable promise as a sensitive way to study physical properties (including spin phenomena) in nanometer scale structures.

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Authors & Affiliations

Jean-Michel Ménard*, Adam E. Mattacchione, and Henry M. van Driel

  • Department of Physics and Institute for Optical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A7

Christine Hautmann and Markus Betz

  • Physik-Department E11, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany

  • *jmenard@physics.utoronto.ca
  • Present address: Experimentelle Physik 2, Technische Universität Dortmund, 44221 Dortmund, Germany.

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Issue

Vol. 82, Iss. 4 — 15 July 2010

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