Optical absorption of circularly polarized light is well known to yield an electron spin polarization in direct band gap semiconductors. We demonstrate that electron spins can even be generated with high efficiency by absorption of linearly polarized light in InGaAs. By changing the incident linear polarization direction we can selectively excite spins both in polar and transverse directions. These directions can be identified by the phase during spin precession using time-resolved Faraday rotation. We show that the spin orientations do not depend on the crystal axes suggesting an extrinsic excitation mechanism.
@article{arxiv.1008.0157,
title = {Two-dimensional optical control of electron spin orientation by linearly polarized light in InGaAs},
author = {K. Schmalbuch and S. Göbbels and Ph. Schäfers and Ch. Rodenbücher and P. Schlammes and Th. Schäpers and M. Lepsa and G. Güntherodt and B. Beschoten},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1008.0157},
year = {2010}
}