Control of Electric Currents with Coherent Spin States

Dr. Christoph Boehme
University of Utah
Department of Physics

In recent years, a number of studies have shown that spin-dependent charge carrier transport and recombination processes in semiconductors work as very sensitive spin probes not only for the mere detection of the presence of spins but also for a spin readout which is the spin measurement of distinct eigenstates or even their coherent superpositions. These discoveries open up the possibility of a coherent electrical spin spectroscopy with extraordinary sensitivity, even single spin sensitivity, on spin systems which have not been accessible before with optically detected or conventional radiofrequency detected magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Examples for such spin systems can be found in low dimensional materials and devices such as thin film semiconductors, quantum-dots, quantum-wires or quantum-wells. The ability to read spin states electrically may also benefit technical applications such as spintronics devices or spin based quantum information techniques.

In this talk, I will briefly review some of the qualitatively different spin-dependent mechanisms known in semiconductors and the methods to observe and investigate these processes, foremost the pulsed electrically detected magnetic resonance (pEDMR) experiments. I will discuss the potential, the limitations as well as some applications of pEDMR for the investigation of organic and inorganic semiconductors.