English

Spin current injection by intersubband transitions in quantum wells

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2009-11-11 v2

Abstract

We show that a pure spin current can be injected in quantum wells by the absorption of linearly polarized infrared radiation, leading to transitions between subbands. The magnitude and the direction of the spin current depend on the Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit coupling constants and light frequency and, therefore, can be manipulated by changing the light frequency and/or applying an external bias across the quantum well. The injected spin current should be observable either as a voltage generated via the anomalous spin-Hall effect, or by spatially resolved pump-probe optical spectroscopy.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0502007,
  title  = {Spin current injection by intersubband transitions in quantum wells},
  author = {E. Ya. Sherman and Ali Najmaie and J. E. Sipe},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0502007},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

minor changes, short version published

R2 v1 2026-07-22T11:13:17.343Z