Anisotropic Optical Spin Hall Effect in Semiconductor Microcavities

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how anisotropy in semiconductor microcavities can be used to generate and control polarized spin currents through Rayleigh scattering of polaritons, with a theoretical model supporting the experimental results.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to create and manipulate spin currents in microcavities by exploiting anisotropy and defect excitation, supported by a quantitative theoretical model.

Findings

Anisotropy affects pseudospin precession of scattered polaritons.

Localized defects enhance spin current intensity.

Theoretical model accurately reproduces experimental observations.

Abstract

Propagating, directionally dependent, polarized spin-currents are created in an anisotropic planar semiconductor microcavity, via Rayleigh scattering of optically injected polaritons in the optical spin Hall regime. The influence of anisotropy results in the suppression or enhancement of the pseudospin precession of polaritons scattered into different directions. This is exploited to create intense spin currents by excitation on top of localized defects. A theoretical model considering the influence of the total effective magnetic field on the polariton pseudospin quantitatively reproduces the experimental observations.