We report time resolved measurements of spin relaxation in doped and undoped InSb quantum wells using degenerate and two-color magneto-optical Kerr effect techniques. We observed that the photo-excited spin dynamics are strongly influenced by laser excitation fluence and the doping profile of the samples. In the low fluence regime, an oscillatory pattern was observed at low temperatures ($\leq$ 77 K) in the samples with an asymmetric doping profile which might be attributed to the quasi-collision-free spin relaxation regime. Our measurements also suggest the influence of the barrier materials (Al$_{x}$In$_{1-x}$Sb) on the spin relaxation in these material systems.
One-dimensional (1D) electronic states were discovered on 1D surface atomic structure of Bi fabricated on semiconductor InSb(001) substrates by angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES). The 1D state showed steep, Dirac-cone-like dispersion along the 1D atomic structure with a finite direct bandgap opening as large as 150 meV. Moreover, spin-resolved ARPES revealed the spin polarization of the 1D unoccupied states as well as that of the occupied states, the orientation of which inverted depending on the wave vector direction parallel to the 1D array on the surface. These results reveal…
We report on the electronic structure of the elemental topological semimetal $α$-Sn on InSb(001). High-resolution angle-resolved photoemission data allow to observe the topological surface state (TSS) that is degenerate with the bulk band structure and show that the former is unaffected by different surface reconstructions. An unintentional $p$-type doping of the as-grown films was compensated by deposition of potassium or tellurium after the growth, thereby shifting the Dirac point of the surface state below the Fermi level. We show that, while having the potential to break time-reversal symm…
Stanene (single-layer grey tin), with an electronic structure akin to that of graphene but exhibiting a much larger spin-orbit gap, offers a promising platform for room-temperature electronics based on the quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect. This material has received much theoretical attention, but a suitable substrate for stanene growth that results in an overall gapped electronic structure has been elusive; a sizable gap is necessary for room-temperature applications. Here, we report a study of stanene epitaxially grown on the (111)B-face of indium antimonide (InSb). Angle-resolved photoemissio…
We report on the epitaxial fabrication and electronic properties of a topological phase in strained α-Sn on InSb. The topological surface state forms in the presence of an unusual band order not based on direct spin-orbit coupling, as shown in density functional and GW slab-layer calculations. Angle-resolved photoemission including spin detection probes experimentally how the topological spin-polarized state emerges from the second bulk valence band. Moreover, we demonstrate the precise control of the Fermi level by dopants.
We present both electric-field and photo-excited control of the carrier concentration in GdN. There is no evidence in the results of a carrier-mediated contribution to the Gd-Gd exchange interaction that has been suggested to explain a measured Curie temperature that is much higher than obtained within theoretical treatments. Persistent carrier concentrations seen in both the field-effect and photo-induced conductivities point to a distribution of long-lived trap states below the conduction band, very likely centred at nitrogen vacancies
We perform time- and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy on p-type GaAs(110). We observe an optically excited population in the conduction band, from which the time scales of intraband relaxation and surface photovoltage decay are both extracted. Moreover, the photovoltage shift of the valence band intriguingly persists for hundreds of picoseconds at negative delays. By comparing to a recent theoretical study, we reveal that the negative-delay dynamics reflects the interaction of the photoelectrons with a photovoltage-induced electric field outside the sample surface. We develop a concep…
The femtosecond evolution of the electronic temperature of laser-excited gold nanoparticles is measured, by means of ultrafast time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy induced by extreme-ultraviolet radiation pulses. The temperature of the electron gas is deduced by recording and fitting high-resolution photo emission spectra around the Fermi edge of gold nanoparticles providing a direct, unambiguous picture of the ultrafast electron-gas dynamics. These results will be instrumental to the refinement of existing models of femtosecond processes in laterally-confined and bulk condensed-matter sys…
Photo-excited precession of magnetization in (Ga,Mn)As is investigated by measuring time-resolved magneto-optical response and transient differential reflectivity with pump-and-probe technique. In the time region less than 1 ps, rapidly oscillating and spike-like signals are observed, respectively, with excitation of below and above the GaAs band gap. Analysis with gyromagnetic model and autocorrelation function concludes that those signals are not attributed to ultrafast demagnetization but due to interference between pump and probe pulses incorporating sub-ps carrier dynamics characteristic …
We report on a new approach to detect excitonic qubits in semiconductor quantum dots by observing spontaneous emissions from the relevant qubit level. The ground state of excitons is resonantly excited by picosecond optical pulses. Emissions from the same state are temporally resolved with picosecond time resolution. To capture weak emissions, we greatly suppress the elastic scattering of excitation beams, by applying obliquely incident geometry to the micro photoluminescence set-up. Rabi oscillations of the ground-state excitons appear to be involved in the dependence of emission intensity on…
The dynamics of charge carriers in amorphous semiconductors fundamentally differ from those in crystalline semiconductors due to the lack of long-range order and the high defect density. Despite intensive technology-driven research interests and the existence of well-established experimental techniques, such as photoconductivity time-of-flight and ultrafast optical measurements, many aspects of the dynamics of photo-excited charge carriers in amorphous semiconductors remain poorly understood. Here we demonstrate direct imaging of carrier dynamics in space and time after photo-excitation in hyd…
The ambipolar carrier diffusion in bulk GaAs is studied by using an ultrafast pump-probe technique with a high spatial resolution. Carriers with a point-like spatial profile are excited by a tightly focused pump laser pulse. The spatiotemporal dynamics of the carriers are monitored by a time-delayed and spatially scanned probe pulse. Ambipolar diffusion coefficients are deduced from linear fits to the expansion of the area of the profiles, and are found to decrease from about 170~$\mathrm{cm}^2 \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ at 10 K to about 20~$\mathrm{cm}^2 \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ at room temperature. Our result…
Aiming at studying the mechanism of photo-excited precession of magnetization in ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As, magneto-optical (MO) and differential reflectivity (DR) temporal profiles are studied at relatively long and ultra-short time scales for samples with different Mn contents (x=0.01-0.11). As to the oscillatory MO profiles observed in the long time scale, simulation based on the LLG equation combined with two different MO effects confirms photo-inducement of the perpendicular anisotropy component p-Heff. As for the profiles observed in the ultra-short time scale, they are consistently explai…
Giant photostriction in lead-free ferroelectric stemming from photo-excited thermalized carriers
Université Paris-Saclay, CentraleSupélec（巴黎萨克雷大学、中央理工-高等电力学院）；CNRS, Laboratoire SPMS（法国国家科学研究中心，SPMS实验室）；ENS Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷高等师范学院）；LuMIn；Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies (C2N)（纳米科学与工程中心）；Le Mans Université（勒芒大学）；Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans（勒芒分子与材料研究所）；FZU- Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences（捷克科学院物理研究所）
In recent years, hematite potential as a photoanode material for solar hydrogen production has ignited a renewed interest in its physical and interfacial properties, which continues to be an active field of research. Research on hematite photoanodes provides new insights on the correlations between electronic structure, transport properties, excited state dynamics and charge transfer phenomena, and expands our knowledge on solar cell materials into correlated electron systems. This research news article presents a snapshot of selected theoretical and experimental developments linking the elect…
Vibrational energy transfer from photo-excited single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) to coupled proteins is a key to engineer thermally induced biological reactions such as photothermal therapy. Here, we explored vibrational energy transfer from the photo-excited SWCNTs to different adsorbed biological materials by means of a femtosecond pump-probe technique. We show that the vibrational relaxation time of the radial breathing modes (RBMs) in SWCNTs significantly depends on the structure of coupled materials, i.e. proteins or biopolymers, indicating the vibrational energy transfer is governed …
Transient XUV spectroscopy is growing in popularity for the measurement of solar fuel and photovoltaic materials as it can separately measure electron and hole energies for multiple elements at once. However, interpretation of transient XUV measurements is complicated by changes in core-valence exciton and angular momentum effects after photoexcitation. Here, we report the photoexcited electron and hole dynamics for ZnTe, a promising material for CO2 reduction, following 400 nm excitation. We apply a newly developed, ab-initio theoretical approach based on density functional theory and the Bet…
New scheme of definition of g-factors as ground as excited optical states of a paramagnetic ion in zero external constant magnetic field has been proposed and experimentally realized in optical systems in which Zeeman Effect is manifested. A pulse of a weak magnetic field leads to occurrence of relative phase shifts of the excited dipoles and, as consequence, to modulation of a photon echo waveform if magnetic pulse (MP) overlaps in time with echo-pulse. The modulation periods of the waveform depend on polarization of the laser light, which excites the photon echo. The values of these periods …
The dynamics of photo-generated electron-hole pairs in solids are dictated by many-body interactions such as electron-electron and electron-phonon scattering. Hence, understanding and controlling these scattering channels is crucial for many optoelectronic applications, ranging from light harvesting to optical amplification. Here we measure the formation and relaxation of the photo-generated non-thermal carrier distribution in monolayer graphene with time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Using sub 10fs pulses we identify impact ionization as the primary scattering channel, which…
Concerning with the recent experiment of time-resolved two-photon photo-emission spectral measurements on semiconductors (GaAs, InP), we theoretically study real time relaxation dynamics of macroscopically photo-excited electrons, toward the Fermi degeneracy formation in an originally vacant conduction band of these semiconductors. Very soon after the photo-excitation, the whole electrons are shown to exhibit a quite rapid relaxation, like an avalanching phenomenon, mainly due to successive multi-(optical and acoustic) phonon emission from them. Repeating this multi-phonon process, the whole e…
