Carrier, spin, charge current, and spin current injection by one- and two-color optical schemes are investigated within 30-band k·p theory. Parameters of the band model are optimized to give full-Brillouin zone band structures for GaAs and Ge that give accurate Γ-point effective masses and gyromagnetic factors and give access to the L valley, and to the E₁ and E₁+Δ₁ critical points in the linear optical absorption. Calculations of one- and two-photon carrier and spin injection and two-color current injection are performed for excitation energies in the range of 0—4 eV in GaAs and 0—3.5 eV in Ge. Significant spin and spin current injection occurs with 30% spin polarization in GaAs and Ge at photon energy matching the E₁ critical point. Further, the anisotropy and disparity of the current injection between parallel and perpendicular linearly-polarized beam configurations are calculated. For light propagating along a <111> crystal axis, anisotropic contributions in coherent current control and two-photon spin injection give rise to normal current components and in-plane spin components. In Ge, contributions from the holes to spin, electrical current, and spin current injection are investigated. Optical orientation results in 83% spin-polarized holes at the band edge. The effects of carrier dynamics in Ge are treated within a rate-equation model. The detection of spin dynamics in a pump-probe setup is considered, and the Fermi-factor approach is justified for electrons but not for holes. Carrier and current injection are further investigated in single-layer and bilayer graphene within the tight-binding model. In single-layer graphene, the linear-circular dichroism in two-photon absorption yields an absorption coefficient that is twice as large for circularly polarized light compared to linearly polarized light. Coherent current injection is largest for co-circularly polarized beams and zero for cross-circularly polarized beams. For linearly polarized beams, the magnitude of the injected current is independent of beam polarizations. In contrast, the injected current in bilayer graphene shows disparity between parallel and perpendicular configurations of the beams. The resulting angular dependence of the current is a macroscopic, measurable consequence of interlayer coupling in the bilayer.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/31919 |
| Date | 11 January 2012 |
| Creators | Rioux, Julien |
| Contributors | Sipe, John E. |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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