Spin–orbit coupling effects on the in-plane optical anisotropy of semiconductor quantum wells

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/23/1/017806

Abstract We theoretically study the influence of the spin–orbit coupling (SOC) on the in-plane optical anisotropy (IPOA) induced by in-plane uniaxial strain and interface asymmetry in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells (QWs) with different well width. It is found that the SOC has more significant impact on the IPOA for the transition of the first valence subband of heavy hole to the first conduction band (1H1E) than that of 1L1E. The reason has been discussed. The IPOA of (001) InGaAs/InP QWs has been measured by reflectance difference spectroscopy, whose amplitude is about one order larger than that of GaAs/AlGaAs QWs. The anisotropic interface potential parameters of InGaAs/InP QWs are also determined. The influence of the SOC effect on the IPOA of InGaAs/InP QWs when the QWs are under tensile, compressive or zero biaxial strain are also investigated in theory. Our results demonstrate that the SOC has significant effect on the IPOA especially for semiconductor QWs with small well width, and therefore cannot be ignored.

Keywords: spin–orbit coupling in-plane optical anisotropy InGaAs/InP quantum well GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well

Received: 19 April 2013
Revised: 02 July 2013
Accepted manuscript online:

PACS:	78.67.De	(Quantum wells)
	78.20.Bh	(Theory, models, and numerical simulation)
	78.20.Fm	(Birefringence)

Fund: Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2012CB921304 and 2013CB632805), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60990313, 61306120, and 6106003), and the Foundation of Fuzhou University of China (Grant No. 022498).

Corresponding Authors: Yu Jin-Ling
E-mail: jlyu@semi.ac.cn

Cite this article:

Yu Jin-Ling (俞金玲), Chen Yong-Hai (陈涌海), Lai Yun-Feng (赖云锋), Cheng Shu-Ying (程树英) Spin–orbit coupling effects on the in-plane optical anisotropy of semiconductor quantum wells 2014 Chin. Phys. B 23 017806

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