Paulo E. Faria Junior

Towards high-frequency operation of spin-lasers

Injecting spin-polarized carriers into semiconductor lasers provides important opportunities to extend what is known about spintronic devices, as well as to overcome many limitations of conventional (spin-unpolarized) lasers. By developing a microscopic model of spin-dependent optical gain derived from an accurate electronic structure in a quantum well-based laser, we study how its operation properties can be modified by spin-polarized carriers, carrier density, and resonant cavity design. We reveal that by applying a uniaxial strain, it is possible to attain a large birefringence. While such birefringence is viewed as detrimental in conventional lasers, it could enable fast polarization oscillations of the emitted light in spin lasers which can be exploited for optical communication and high-performance interconnects. The resulting oscillation frequency (

Realistic multiband k.p approach from ab initio and spin-orbit coupling effects of InAs and InP in wurtzite phase

>200

Wurtzite spin lasers

GHz) would significantly exceed the frequency range possible in conventional lasers.

Spin-orbit coupling effects in zinc-blende InSb and wurtzite InAs nanowires: Realistic calculations with multiband k·p method

Semiconductor nanowires based on non-nitride III-V compounds can be synthesized under certain growth conditions to favor the appearance of the wurtzite crystal phase. Despite reports in the literature of ab initio band structures for these wurtzite compounds, we still lack effective multiband models and parameter sets that can be simply used to investigate physical properties of such systems, for instance, under quantum confinement effects. In order to address this deficiency, in this study we calculate the ab initio band structure of bulk InAs and InP in the wurtzite phase and develop an 8 x 8 k . p Hamiltonian to describe the energy bands around the Gamma point. We show that our k . p model is robust and can be fitted to describe the important features of the ab initio band structure. The correct description of the spin-splitting effects that arise due to the lack of inversion symmetry in wurtzite crystals is obtained with the k-dependent spin-orbit term in the Hamiltonian, often neglected in the literature. All the energy bands display a Rashba-like spin texture for the in-plane spin expectation value. We also provide the density of states and the carrier density as functions of the Fermi energy. Alternatively, we show an analytical description of the conduction band, valid close to the Gamma point. The same fitting procedure is applied to the 6 x 6 valence band Hamiltonian. However, we find that the most reliable approach is the 8 x 8 k . p Hamiltonian for both compounds. The k . p Hamiltonians and parameter sets that we develop in this paper provide a reliable theoretical framework that can be easily applied to investigate electronic, transport, optical, and spin properties of InAs- and InP-based nanostructures.

Stability and accuracy control of k center dot p parameters

Semiconductor lasers are strongly altered by adding spin-polarized carriers. Such spin lasers could overcome many limitations of their conventional (spin-unpolarized) counterparts. While the vast majority of experiments in spin lasers employed zinc-blende semiconductors, the room temperature electrical manipulation was first demonstrated in wurtzite GaN-based lasers. However, the underlying theoretical description of wurtzite spin lasers is still missing. To address this situation, focusing on (In,Ga)N-based wurtzite quantum wells, we develop a theoretical framework in which the calculated microscopic spin-dependent gain is combined with a simple rate equation model. A small spin-orbit coupling in these wurtzites supports simultaneous spin polarizations of electrons and holes, providing unexplored opportunities to control spin lasers. For example, the gain asymmetry, as one of the key figures of merit related to spin amplification, can change the sign by simply increasing the carrier density. The lasing threshold reduction has a nonmonotonic depenedence on electron spin polarization, even for a nonvanishing hole spin polarization.