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Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 136603 (2003) [4 pages]

Quantum Interference Control of Ballistic Pure Spin Currents in Semiconductors

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Martin J. Stevens and Arthur L. Smirl*
Laboratory for Photonics & Quantum Electronics, 138 IATL, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242

R. D. R. Bhat, Ali Najmaie, J. E. Sipe, and H. M. van Driel
Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A7

Received 19 November 2002; published 4 April 2003

See accompanying Physics Focus

We demonstrate all-optical quantum interference injection and control of a ballistic pure spin current (without an accompanying charge current) in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells, consisting of spin-up electrons traveling in one direction and spin-down electrons traveling in the opposite direction. This current is generated through quantum interference of one- and two-photon absorption of ∼100  fs phase-locked pulses that have orthogonal linear polarizations. We use a spatially resolved pump-probe technique to measure carrier movement of ∼10  nm. Results agree with recent theoretical predictions.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.136603
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.136603
PACS:
72.25.Dc, 42.65.–k, 72.25.Fe

*Electronic address: art-smirl@uiowa.edu

 
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