The charge density relaxation propagator of a two dimensional electron system, which is the slope of the imaginary part of the polarization function, exhibits singularities for bosonic momenta having the order of the spin-orbit momentum and depending
on the momentum orientation. We have provided an intuitive understanding for this non-analytic behavior in terms of the inter chirality subband electronic transitions, induced by the combined action of Bychkov-Rashba (BR) and Dresselhaus (D) spin-orbit coupling. It is shown that the regular behavior of the relaxation propagator is recovered in the presence of only one BR or D spin-orbit field or for spin-orbit interaction with equal BR and D coupling strengths. This creates a new possibility to influence carrier relaxation properties by means of an applied electric field.
In a 2DEG confined to two coaxial tubes the `tube degree of freedom can be described in terms of pseudospin-1/2 dynamics. The presence of tunneling between the two tubes leads to a collective oscillation known as pseudospin resonance. We employ pertu
rbation theory to examine the dependence of the frequency of this mode with respect to a coaxial magnetic field for the case of small intertube distances. Coulomb interaction leads to a shift of the resonance frequency and to a finite lifetime of the pseudospin excitations. The presence of the coaxial magnetic field gives rise to pronounced peaks in the shift of the resonance frequency. For large magnetic fields this shift vanishes due to the effects of Zeeman splitting. Finally, an expression for the linewidth of the resonance is derived. Numerical analysis of this expression suggests that the linewidth strongly depends on the coaxial magnetic field, which leads to several peaks of the linewidth as well as regions where damping is almost completely suppressed.
Magneto-optical properties of the ferromagnetic semiconductor GaMnAs are studied in a material specific multi-band tight-binding approach. Two realistic models are compared: one has no impurity band while the other shows an impurity band for low Mn c
oncentrations. The calculated magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) is positive for both models proving that, unlike previously asserted, the observed positive MCD signal is inconclusive as to the presence or absence of an impurity band in GaMnAs. The positive MCD is due to the antiferromagnetic p-d coupling and the transitions into the conduction band.
We consider the electronic properties of ferromagnetic bulk GaMnAs at zero temperature using two realistic tight-binding models, one due to Tang and Flatte and one due to Masek. In particular, we study the density of states, the Fermi energy, the inv
erse participation ratio, and the optical conductivity with varying impurity concentration x=0.01-0.15. The results are very sensitive to the assumptions made for the on-site and hopping matrix elements of the Mn impurities. For low concentrations, x<0.02, Maseks model shows only small deviations from the case of p-doped GaAs with increased number of holes while within Tang and Flattes model an impurity-band forms. For higher concentrations x, Maseks model shows minor quantitative changes in the properties we studied while the results of the Tang and Flatte model exhibit qualitative changes including strong localization of eigenstates with energies close to the band edge. These differences between the two approaches are in particular visible in the optical conductivity, where Maseks model shows a Drude peak at zero frequency while no such peak is observed in Tang and Flattes model. Interestingly, although the two models differ qualitatively the calculated effective optical masses of both models are similar within the range of 0.4-1.0 of the free electron mass.
Spintronics refers commonly to phenomena in which the spin of electrons in a solid state environment plays the determining role. In a more narrow sense spintronics is an emerging research field of electronics: spintronics devices are based on a spin
control of electronics, or on an electrical and optical control of spin or magnetism. This review presents selected themes of semiconductor spintronics, introducing important concepts in spin transport, spin injection, Silsbee-Johnson spin-charge coupling, and spindependent tunneling, as well as spin relaxation and spin dynamics. The most fundamental spin-dependent nteraction in nonmagnetic semiconductors is spin-orbit coupling. Depending on the crystal symmetries of the material, as well as on the structural properties of semiconductor based heterostructures, the spin-orbit coupling takes on different functional forms, giving a nice playground of effective spin-orbit Hamiltonians. The effective Hamiltonians for the most relevant classes of materials and heterostructures are derived here from realistic electronic band structure descriptions. Most semiconductor device systems are still theoretical concepts, waiting for experimental demonstrations. A review of selected proposed, and a few demonstrated devices is presented, with detailed description of two important classes: magnetic resonant tunnel structures and bipolar magnetic diodes and transistors. In most cases the presentation is of tutorial style, introducing the essential theoretical formalism at an accessible level, with case-study-like illustrations of actual experimental results, as well as with brief reviews of relevant recent achievements in the field.
