Evidence of spontaneous spin polarization in the two-dimensional electron gas

TL;DR

This paper provides theoretical predictions and experimental evidence for spontaneous spin polarization in a two-dimensional electron gas, revealing a spin-polarized phase associated with excited subband occupation in a GaAs quantum well.

Contribution

It combines density-functional calculations with experimental photoluminescence and light scattering data to demonstrate spin polarization phenomena in 2DEG systems.

Findings

Observation of a sharp PL peak indicating spin polarization

Evidence of spin-polarized domains with in-plane magnetization

Enhanced exchange-vertex corrections in light scattering spectra

Abstract

Density-functional calculations using an exact exchange potential for a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) formed in a GaAs single quantum well predict the existence of a spin-polarized phase, when an excited subband becomes slightly populated. Direct experimental evidence is obtained from low temperature and low excitation-power photoluminescence (PL) spectra which display the sudden appearance of a sharp emission peak below the energy of the optical transition from the first excited electron subband upon its occupation. The behavior of this PL feature in magnetic fields applied in-plane as well as perpendicular to the 2DEG indicate the formation of spin-polarized domains in the excited subband with in-plane magnetization. For it speaks also the strong enhancement of exchange-vertex corrections observed in inelastic light scattering spectra by spin-density excitations of a slightly occupied first-excited subband.