Voltage probe of the optically oriented electron spin relaxation

Abstract

We report here a study of the voltage probe of the electron spin relaxation in zinc-blende semiconductors. Electron spins oriented by a circularly polarized light are dragged by an electric field in transparent devices formed on gallium arsenide. The observed spin polarization-dependent voltage signal (which is a measure of the spin relaxation) is found to decrease about exponentially with the applied electric field. When the spin-oriented electrons are dragged with a high field, a significant decrease in the spin polarization is observed due to an increase in the spin precession frequency of the hot electrons. It is also found that the signal rationally decreases with increasing crystal temperature. The results are discussed based on the Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation mechanism.