Spin relaxation dynamics in GaAs quantum wells: Free carriers and excitons

✍ Scribed by L. Viña; T.C. Damen; J.E. Cunningham; J. Shah; L.J. Sham

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 772 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0749-6036
• DOI: 10.1016/0749-6036(92)90287-f

✦ Synopsis

We present the results of an investigation of the spin relaxation dynamics of electrons, holes and excitons in GaAs quantum wells by means of subpicosecond spectroscopy of the photoluminescence polarization. The band to band luminescence was studied in n and p modulation-doped quantum wells. We show that the spin relaxation for electrons and holes in quasi-two-dimensional systems is quite different from that in bulk semiconductors. A very high quality GaAs/G~,,Alt,,As intrinsic multiple quantum well was used to investigate the spin relaxation of excitons. We demonstrate that the processes of spin relaxation of excitons are far more complicated than those of free carriers, Many-body effects and the formation dynamics of the excitons strongly influence their spin relaxation dynamics