Optically induced Hall effect in semiconductors

Abstract

We describe an experiment which investigates the effect of a longitudinal electric field on the spin-polarized carriers generated by a circularly polarized light in semiconductors. Our experiment observes the effect as a Hall voltage resulting from nonequilibrium magnetization induced by the spin-carrier electrons accumulating at the transverse boundaries of the sample as a result of asymmetries in scattering for spin-up and spin-down electrons in the presence of spin-orbit interaction. It is found that the effect depends on the longitudinal electric field and doping density as well as on temperature. The results are presented by discussing the dominant spin relaxation mechanisms in semiconductors. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.