Optical Manipulation of Nuclear Spin by a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

G. Salis; D. T. Fuchs; J. M. Kikkawa; D. D. Awschalom; Y. Ohno; H. Ohno

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2677

Optical Manipulation of Nuclear Spin by a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

G. Salis, D. T. Fuchs, J. M. Kikkawa, D. D. Awschalom, Y. Ohno, and H. Ohno

Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2677 – Published 19 March 2001

Abstract

Conduction electrons are used to optically polarize, detect, and manipulate nuclear spin in a (110) GaAs quantum well. Using optical Larmor magnetometry, we find that nuclear spin can be polarized along or against the applied magnetic field, depending on field polarity and tilting of the sample with respect to the optical pump beam. Periodic optical excitation of the quantum-confined electron spin reveals a complete spectrum of optically induced and quadrupolar-split nuclear resonances, as well as evidence for $Δ m = 2$ transitions.

Received 1 May 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2677

Authors & Affiliations

G. Salis, D. T. Fuchs, J. M. Kikkawa^*, and D. D. Awschalom^†

Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106

Y. Ohno and H. Ohno

Laboratory for Electronic Intelligent Systems, Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

^*Present address: Department of Physics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
^†Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic address: awsch@physics.ucsb.edu