Date/Time
Date(s) - 26/09/2003
9:00 am - 10:00 am

Title: SPINTRONICS: FROM QUANTUM COMPUTATION TO OPTOELECTRONICS

Speaker: Dr. Kimberley C. Hall

Institute: University of Iowa
Department of Physics & Astronomy

Location: PC-155

Description:

The area of condensed matter research referred to as “semiconductor spintronics” covers a wide range of topics, all of which are focused on finding ways to exploit the spin property of the electron rather than its charge in the search for novel physical phenomena and applications. One reason for the high level of interest within the scientific community in this field is that it promises applications in areas of great economic significance, such as the need for fast, low power electronic devices, a new approach to computation using quantum information, and novel spin-sensitive optical devices for telecommunications technologies. Such innovation requires tremendous advances in the understanding of the spin-related properties of semiconductor nanostructures and in our ability to manipulate the electron spin in the semiconductor environment. The physical problems at hand are among the richest in condensed matter physics today.

During this seminar, I intend to give an introductory overview of the field of spintronics, and describe selected results of my research in this area. Positively-charged quantum dots will be shown to be highly efficient detectors of electron spin information through a comparison of spin capture and relaxation dynamics in charged and neutral quantum dots. I’ll show results of time-resolved optical studies of spin dynamics in a GaSb quantum well, which illustrate how the strong spin-orbit interaction in GaSb-based heterostructures provides a new regime for the investigation of spin dynamics and spin coherence. Finally, I’ll introduce a nonmagnetic spin transistor that exploits the spin-orbit mediated internal magnetic field in symmetric (110) heterostructures.