Spin-sensitive bleaching and monopolar spin orientation in quantum wells

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Feb 4;88(5):057401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.057401. Epub 2002 Jan 15.

Abstract

Spin-sensitive bleaching of the absorption of far-infrared radiation has been observed in p-type GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well structures. The absorption of circularly polarized radiation saturates at lower intensities than that of linearly polarized light due to monopolar spin orientation in the first heavy-hole subband. Spin relaxation times of holes in p-type material in the range of tens of ps were derived from the intensity dependence of the absorption.