Electrical determination of the spin relaxation time of photoexcited electrons in GaAs
Date
2010Author
Kurebayashi, H.Trypiniotis, Theodossis
Lee, K.
Easton, S.
Ionescu, A.
Farrer, I.
Ritchie, D. A.
Bland, J. A. C.
Barnes, C. H. W.
Source
Applied Physics LettersVolume
96Issue
2Google Scholar check
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Spin-dependent transport for photoexcited electrons in an epitaxial Fe/GaAs interface was characterized from 5 to 300 K. The presence of spin-dependent transport was confirmed at all the measured temperatures and the spin polarization across the interface is found to increase with decreasing temperature. A time-of-flight-type model based on the Dyakonov-Perel (DP) spin relaxation mechanism was employed to explain the temperature dependence, providing that the estimated spin relaxation time in GaAs is 62 ps at 5 K. This short spin relaxation time can be explained by the stronger efficiency of the DP mechanism for hot-electrons. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.