Article: Theory of magnetoelectric photocurrent generated by direct interband transitions in a semiconductor quantum well
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- Publisher Website: 10.1103/PhysRevB.83.125320
- Scopus: eid_2-s2.0-79961068870
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| Title | Theory of magnetoelectric photocurrent generated by direct interband transitions in a semiconductor quantum well | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Authors | Lu, HZ1 Zhou, B2 Zhang, FC1 Shen, SQ1 | ||||||||
| Issue Date | 2011 | ||||||||
| Publisher | American Physical Society. The Journal's web site is located at http://prb.aps.org/ | ||||||||
| Citation | Physical Review B - Condensed Matter And Materials Physics, 2011, v. 83 n. 12 [How to Cite?] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.125320 | ||||||||
| Abstract | A linearly polarized light normally incident on a semiconductor quantum well with spin-orbit coupling may generate pure spin current via direct interband optical transition. An electric photocurrent can be extracted from the pure spin current when an in-plane magnetic field is applied, which has been recently observed in the InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well. Here we present a theoretical study of this magnetoelectric photocurrent effect associated with the interband transition. By employing the density matrix formalism, we show that the photoexcited carrier density has an anisotropic distribution in k space, strongly dependent on the orientation of the electron wavevector and the polarization of the light. This anisotropy provides an intuitive picture of the observed dependence of the photocurrent on the magnetic field and the polarization of the light. We also show that the ratio of the pure spin photocurrent to the magnetoelectric photocurrent is approximately equal to the ratio of the kinetic energy to the Zeeman energy, which enables us to estimate the magnitude of the pure spin photocurrent. The photocurrent density calculated with the help of an anisotropic Rashba model and the Kohn-Luttinger model can produce all three terms in the fitting formula for measured current, with comparable order of magnitude, but discrepancies are still present and further investigation is needed. © 2011 American Physical Society. | ||||||||
| ISSN | 1098-0121 2011 Impact Factor: 3.691 2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.268 | ||||||||
| DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.125320 | ||||||||
| ISI Accession Number ID | WOS:000288945900002
Funding Information: We thank Xiaodong Cui, Junfeng Dai, Chun-LeiYang, Wei-Qiang Chen, Jing Wang, Ren-Bao Liu, and Bang-fen Zhu for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong under Grant Nos. HKU7041/07P, and HKU 10/CRF/08. ZB was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10974046) and Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2009CDB360). | ||||||||
| References | References in Scopus |
| dc.contributor.author | Lu, HZ | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dc.contributor.author | Zhou, B | ||||||||
| dc.contributor.author | Zhang, FC | ||||||||
| dc.contributor.author | Shen, SQ | ||||||||
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-06-17T09:20:58Z | ||||||||
| dc.date.available | 2011-06-17T09:20:58Z | ||||||||
| dc.date.issued | 2011 | ||||||||
| dc.description.abstract | A linearly polarized light normally incident on a semiconductor quantum well with spin-orbit coupling may generate pure spin current via direct interband optical transition. An electric photocurrent can be extracted from the pure spin current when an in-plane magnetic field is applied, which has been recently observed in the InGaAs/InAlAs quantum well. Here we present a theoretical study of this magnetoelectric photocurrent effect associated with the interband transition. By employing the density matrix formalism, we show that the photoexcited carrier density has an anisotropic distribution in k space, strongly dependent on the orientation of the electron wavevector and the polarization of the light. This anisotropy provides an intuitive picture of the observed dependence of the photocurrent on the magnetic field and the polarization of the light. We also show that the ratio of the pure spin photocurrent to the magnetoelectric photocurrent is approximately equal to the ratio of the kinetic energy to the Zeeman energy, which enables us to estimate the magnitude of the pure spin photocurrent. The photocurrent density calculated with the help of an anisotropic Rashba model and the Kohn-Luttinger model can produce all three terms in the fitting formula for measured current, with comparable order of magnitude, but discrepancies are still present and further investigation is needed. © 2011 American Physical Society. | ||||||||
| dc.description.nature | published_or_final_version | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.citation | Physical Review B - Condensed Matter And Materials Physics, 2011, v. 83 n. 12 [How to Cite?] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.125320 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.83.125320 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.epage | 125320-14 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.hkuros | 185915 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.isi | WOS:000288945900002
Funding Information: We thank Xiaodong Cui, Junfeng Dai, Chun-LeiYang, Wei-Qiang Chen, Jing Wang, Ren-Bao Liu, and Bang-fen Zhu for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong under Grant Nos. HKU7041/07P, and HKU 10/CRF/08. ZB was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10974046) and Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2009CDB360). | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.issn | 1098-0121 2011 Impact Factor: 3.691 2011 SCImago Journal Rankings: 0.268 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.issue | 12 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.openurl | | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.scopus | eid_2-s2.0-79961068870 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.spage | 125320-1 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/134445 | ||||||||
| dc.identifier.volume | 83 | ||||||||
| dc.language | eng | ||||||||
| dc.publisher | American Physical Society. The Journal's web site is located at http://prb.aps.org/ | ||||||||
| dc.publisher.place | United States | ||||||||
| dc.relation.ispartof | Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics | ||||||||
| dc.relation.references | References in Scopus | ||||||||
| dc.rights | Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License | ||||||||
| dc.rights | Physical Review B (Condensed Matter and Materials Physics). Copyright © American Physical Society. | ||||||||
| dc.title | Theory of magnetoelectric photocurrent generated by direct interband transitions in a semiconductor quantum well | ||||||||
| dc.type | Article |
Author Affiliations
- The University of Hong Kong
- Hubei University