Resonance-like electrical control of electron spin for microwave measurement

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a resonance-like electrical method to control and detect electron spin using microwave electric fields, enabling frequency and amplitude measurement in the gigahertz range.

Contribution

It introduces a novel electrically tunable spin resonance mechanism leveraging spin-orbit interaction for microwave detection.

Findings

Effective detection of microwave signals around tens of gigahertz.

Electrical control of electron spin resonance via spin-orbit interaction.

Potential for integrated microwave sensing devices.

Abstract

We demonstrate that the spin-polarized electron current can interact with a microwave electric field in a resonant manner. The spin-orbit interaction gives rise to an effective magnetic field proportional to the electric current. In the presence of both dc and ac electric field components, electron spin resonance occurs if the ac frequency matches with the spin precession frequency that is controlled by the dc field. In a device consisting of two spin-polarized contacts connected by a two-dimensional channel, this mechanism allows electrically tuned detection of the ac signal frequency and amplitude. For GaAs, such detection is effective in the frequency domain around tens of gigahertz.