The sign of electron g-factor in GaAs(1-x)N(x) measured by using the Hanle effect

TL;DR

This study measures the positive electron g-factor signs in GaAsN alloy using the Hanle effect, revealing details about spin polarization and depolarization mechanisms in strained semiconductor samples.

Contribution

The paper introduces an extended theory of optical orientation to analyze Hanle effect measurements in strained GaAsN, distinguishing contributions from localized and free electrons.

Findings

Positive g-factor signs for free and localized electrons were measured.

The Hanle curve comprises narrow and broad components related to different electron states.

Theoretical calculations matched experimental Hanle curves considering strain effects.

Abstract

Positive signs of the effective g-factors for free electrons in the conduction band and electrons localized on deep paramagnetic centers have been measured in nitrogen dilute alloy GaAs{0.979}N{0.021} at room temperature. The g-factor signs have been determined from an asymmetry in the depolarization of edge photoluminescence in a transverse magnetic field (Hanle effect) at the oblique incidence of the exciting radiation and oblique-angle detection of the luminescence. The tilted spin polarization of free electrons is induced under interband absorption of circularly polarized light, and the paramagnetic centers acquire spin polarization because of spin-dependent capture of free spin-polarized electrons by these centers. The measured Hanle curve is a superposition of two lines, narrow and broad, with the widths ~400 G and ~50000 G, arising due to the depolarization of localized and free electrons, respectively. The magnitude and direction of the asymmetry in the measured Hanle curve have been found to depend on the partial contributions to the photoluminecsence from the heavy- and light-hole subbands split by a uniaxial deformation of the GaAs{1-x}N{x} film grown on a GaAs substrate. We have extended the theory of optical orientation in order to calculate the excitation spectrum of the photoelectron tilted-spin polarization and the circularly-polarized luminescence spectrum taking into account that, in the strained samples under study, the light-hole subband lies above the heavy-hole one. The results have further been used to calculate the shape of Hanle curve as a function of the excitation and registration energies as well as the incidence and detection angles and to compare the theory with experiment.