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Coherent Superposition of Electric- and Magnetic-Dipole Spin-Flip Transitions in Zinc Blende Semiconductors

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Abstract

Spin resonance (SR) studies offer an important and unique opportunity for investigating coherent superposition of electric-and magnetic-dipole spin-flip transitions in semiconductors. We will focus on far-infrared studies of conduction-electron spin-flip transitions in narrow-gap semiconductors, where this effect is most clearly evident. Although the SR transition is normally electric-dipole-forbidden, it is well known that there exist mechanisms (e.g., “nonparabolicity” and inversion asymmetry) that relax these selection rules. In comparing the relative importance of these mechanisms, it will be shown that the combination of spin–orbit coupling and inversion asymmetry (as developed by E. I. Rashba and V. I. Sheka) is the dominant process allowing electric-dipole-induced spin-flip transitions. In this review, special attention will be given to the interference of the electric- and magnetic-dipole matrix elements, which provide a unique opportunity for determining the inversion-asymmetry parameter (including its sign) in zinc blende narrow-gap semiconductors. This effect can also serve as a basis for observing spin-based electromagnetically induced transparency—a phenomenon of considerable contemporary interest from both fundamental and applied viewpoints.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, 46556

    J. K. Furdyna & M. Dobrowolska

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  1. J. K. Furdyna
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  2. M. Dobrowolska
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Furdyna, J.K., Dobrowolska, M. Coherent Superposition of Electric- and Magnetic-Dipole Spin-Flip Transitions in Zinc Blende Semiconductors. Journal of Superconductivity 16, 647–659 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025301604178

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