Phonon-induced quantum ratchet in the exciton spin dynamics in diluted magnetic semiconductors in a magnetic field

Title data

Ungar, Florian ; Cygorek, Moritz ; Axt, Vollrath Martin:
Phonon-induced quantum ratchet in the exciton spin dynamics in diluted magnetic semiconductors in a magnetic field.
In: Physical Review B. Vol. 99 (2019) Issue 7 . - 075301.
ISSN 0163-1829
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.99.075301

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Abstract in another language

Magnetically doped semiconductors are well known for their giant Zeeman splittings which can reach several meV even in relatively small external magnetic fields. After preparing a nonequilibrium exciton distribution via optical excitation, the spin dynamics in diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum wells is typically governed by spin-flip scattering processes due to the exciton-impurity exchange interaction. Our theoretical calculations show that the giant Zeeman splitting in these materials in combination with the influence of longitudinal acoustic phonons lead to a quantum ratchet-type dynamics, resulting in an almost complete reversal of the carrier spin polarization at very low temperatures. Furthermore, we find that the predictions of a much simpler rate-equation approach qualitatively agree with a more advanced and numerically demanding quantum-kinetic description of the spin dynamics for a wide range of temperatures, although quantitative differences are noticeable.