Carrier density dependence of electron spin relaxation in an intrinsic GaAs quantum well is investigated at room temperature using time-resolved circularly polarized pump-probe spectroscopy. It is revealed that the spin relaxation time first increases with density in the relatively low density regime where the linear D'yakonov-Perel' spin-orbit coupling terms are dominant, and then tends to decrease when the density is large and the cubic D'yakonov-Perel' spin-orbit coupling terms become important. These features are in good agreement with theoretical predictions on density dependence of spin relaxation by Lü et al. [Phys. Rev. B 73, 125314 (2006)]. A fully microscopic calculation based on numerically solving the kinetic spin Bloch equations with both the D'yakonov-Perel' and the Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanisms included, reproduces the density dependence of spin relaxation very well.
Time-resolved circularly polarized pump–probe spectroscopy is used to study the carrier-density dependence of the electron-spin polarization and spin relaxation dynamics in bulk intrinsic GaAs near the bottom of the conduction band. The experimental result shows that the initial degree of the electron-spin polarization is less than 0.5, and both the initial degree of spin polarization and the spin relaxation time decrease with increasing carrier densities. The simulation calculation shows that the band-gap renormalization effect has a significant influence on the initial degree of spin polarization, but it is not the physical origin of the decrease in the electron-spin polarization. Contrarily, the initial degree of spin polarization can be greatly enhanced by the band-gap renormalization effect for carrier densities above 3.5 × 1017 cm−3. In intrinsic GaAs, both the D'yakonov–Perel' and the Bir–Aronov–Pikus mechanisms play an important role. The Bir–Aronov–Pikus mechanism becomes stronger with the increase in the carrier density, and becomes dominant at high carrier density.
Time-resolved circularly and linearly polarized pump-probe spectroscopy is used to study the evolution of the electron spin coherence and electron relaxation dynamics in bulk GaAs at 9.6 K. In particular, their dependence on photon energy (or electron excess energy) is carefully investigated. The absorption quantum beats which are observed in circularly polarized pump-probe spectroscopy are obtained, reflecting the dephasing of the electron spin coherence. A circularly dichromatic pump-probe model is developed with both the spin-polarization-dependent band-filling and band-gap renormalization effects being taken into account. The model is used to simulate the differential transmission spectra for the collinearly polarized, co-helicity circularly polarized and cross-helicity circularly polarized pump-probe configurations, respectively. It is found that the model simulates well the features of the absorption quantum beats for a spin-dependent thermalized distribution of the photocreated carriers by a circularly polarized pump pulse, such as the variation of the oscillatory amplitude and phase reversal of the absorption quantum beats with photon energy increase. The simulation is in good agreement with our experimental results and reveals the effect of spin polarization on electron relaxation dynamics.
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