Eougenious Ivchenko

Spin-galvanic effect

There is much recent interest in exploiting the spin of conduction electrons in semiconductor heterostructures together with their charge to realize new device concepts. Electrical currents are usually generated by electric or magnetic fields, or by gradients of, for example, carrier concentration or temperature. The electron spin in a spin-polarized electron gas can, in principle, also drive an electrical current, even at room temperature, if some general symmetry requirements are met. Here we demonstrate such a ‘spin-galvanic’ effect in semiconductor heterostructures, induced by a non-equilibrium, but uniform population of electron spins. The microscopic origin for this effect is that the two electronic sub-bands for spin-up and spin-down electrons are shifted in momentum space and, although the electron distribution in each sub-band is symmetric, there is an inherent asymmetry in the spin-flip scattering events between the two sub-bands. The resulting current flow has been detected by applying a magnetic field to rotate an optically oriented non-equilibrium spin polarization in the direction of the sample plane. In contrast to previous experiments, where spin-polarized currents were driven by electric fields in semiconductor, we have here the complementary situation where electron spins drive a current without the need of an external electric field.

Terahertz radiation driven chiral edge currents in graphene.

We observe photocurrents induced in single-layer graphene samples by illumination of the graphene edges with circularly polarized terahertz radiation at normal incidence. The photocurrent flows along the sample edges and forms a vortex. Its winding direction reverses by switching the light helicity from left to right handed. We demonstrate that the photocurrent stems from the sample edges, which reduce the spatial symmetry and result in an asymmetric scattering of carriers driven by the radiation electric field. The developed theory based on Boltzmanns kinetic equation is in a good agreement with the experiment. We show that the edge photocurrents can be applied for determination of the conductivity type and the momentum scattering time of the charge carriers in the graphene edge vicinity.

Ratchet Effects Induced by Terahertz Radiation in Heterostructures with a Lateral Periodic Potential

We report on the observation of the Seebeck ratchet effect. The effect is measured in semiconductor heterostructures with a one-dimensional lateral potential excited by terahertz radiation. The photocurrent generation is based on the combined action of a spatially periodic in-plane potential and a spatially modulated light, which gives rise to a modulation of the local temperature. In addition to the polarization-independent current due to the Seebeck ratchet effect, we observe a photon helicity dependent response and propose a microscopic mechanism to interpret the experimental findings.

Photogalvanic effects in quantum wells

Circular and linear photogalvanic effects induced by far-infrared radiation have been investigated in both n-type and p-type quantum wells (QWs) of various point symmetry groups. The circular photogalvanic effect arises due to optical spin orientation of free carriers in QWs which results in a directed motion of free carriers in the plane of a QW perpendicular to the direction of light propagation. Due to selection rules the direction of the current is determined by the helicity of the light and can be reversed by switching the helicity from right to left.

Zero-bias spin separation

The generation, manipulation and detection of spin-polarized electrons in low-dimensional semiconductors are at the heart of spintronics. Pure spin currents, that is, fluxes of magnetization without charge current, are quite attractive in this respect. A paradigmatic example is the spin Hall effect, where an electrical current drives a transverse spin current and causes a non-equilibrium spin accumulation observed near the sample boundary1,2. Here we provide evidence for an another effect causing spin currents which is fundamentally different from the spin Hall effect. In contrast to the spin Hall effect, it does not require an electric current to flow: without bias the spin separation is achieved by spin-dependent scattering of electrons in media with suitable symmetry. We show, by free-carrier absorption of terahertz (THz) radiation, that spin currents flow in a wide range of temperatures. Moreover, the experimental results provide evidence that simple electron gas heating by any means is already sufficient to yield spin separation due to spin-dependent energy-relaxation processes.

Spin-Sensitive Bleaching and Monopolar Spin Orientation in Quantum Wells

Spin-sensitive bleaching of the absorption of far-infrared radiation has been observed in p-type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structures. The absorption of circularly polarized radiation saturates at lower intensities than that of linearly polarized light due to monopolar spin orientation in the first heavy-hole subband. Spin relaxation times of holes in p-type material in the range of tens of ps were derived from the intensity dependence of the absorption.

Quantum ratchet effects induced by terahertz radiation in GaN-based two-dimensional structures

Photogalvanic effects are observed and investigated in wurtzite (0001)-oriented GaN/AlGaN low-dimensional structures excited by terahertz radiation. The structures are shown to represent linear quantum ratchets. Experimental and theoretical analysis exhibits that the observed photocurrents are related to the lack of an inversion center in the GaN-based heterojunctions.

Pure spin currents induced by spin-dependent scattering processes in SiGe quantum well structures

We show that spin-dependent electron-phonon interaction in the energy relaxation of a two-dimensional electron gas results in equal and oppositely directed currents in the spin-up and spin-down subbands yielding a pure spin current. In our experiments on SiGe heterostructures the pure spin current is converted into an electric current applying a magnetic field that lifts the cancellation of the two partial charge flows. A microscopic theory of this effect, taking account of the asymmetry of the relaxation process, is developed and is in good agreement with the experimental data.

Charged excitons in monolayer WSe2: Experiment and theory

© 2017 American Physical Society. Charged excitons, or X± trions, in monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides have binding energies of several tens of meV. Together with the neutral exciton X0 they dominate the emission spectrum at low and elevated temperatures. We use charge-tunable devices based on WSe2 monolayers encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride to investigate the difference in binding energy between X+ and X- and the X- fine structure. We find in the charge-neutral regime, the X0 emission accompanied at lower energy by a strong peak close to the longitudinal optical (LO) phonon energy. This peak is absent in reflectivity measurements, where only the X0 and an excited state of the X0 are visible. In the n-doped regime, we find a closer correspondence between emission and reflectivity as the trion transition with a well-resolved fine-structure splitting of 6 meV for X- is observed. We present a symmetry analysis of the different X+ and X- trion states and results of the binding energy calculations. We compare the trion binding energy for the n- and p-doped regimes with our model calculations for low carrier concentrations. We demonstrate that the splitting between the X+ and X- trions as well as the fine structure of the X- state can be related to the short-range Coulomb-exchange interaction between the charge carriers.

Classical ratchet effects in heterostructures with a lateral periodic potential

We study terahertz radiation induced ratchet currents in low dimensional semiconductor structures with a superimposed one-dimensional lateral periodic potential. The periodic potential is produced by etching a grating into the sample surface or depositing metal stripes periodically on the sample top. Microscopically, the photocurrent generation is based on the combined action of the lateral periodic potential, verified by transport measurements, and the in-plane modulated pumping caused by the lateral superlattice. We show that a substantial part of the total current is caused by the polarization-independent Seebeck ratchet effect. In addition, polarization-dependent photocurrents occur, which we interpret in terms of their underlying microscopical mechanisms. As a result, the class of ratchet systems needs to be extended by linear and circular ratchets, sensitive to linear and circular polarizations of the driving electromagnetic force.