We report on the optical generation of a pure spin current at the indirect gap of bulk Si at room temperature in the photon energy range comprised between 1.2 and 1.8 eV. Spin-polarized electrons are promoted to the Δ-valleys of the Si Brillouin zone by circularly polarized light. The photo-generated spin current is then detected by exploiting a Schottky Pt/Si(001) junction: spin-polarized electrons diffuse toward the Pt/Si interface and enter the Pt layer where the spin current is converted into a transverse electromotive field through the inverse spin-Hall effect (ISHE). The photon energy dependence of the ISHE signal is interpreted in the frame of a one-dimensional spin drift-diffusion model, which allows estimating the electron spin lifetime to be τs=15±5 ns.

Optical generation of pure spin currents at the indirect gap of bulk Si

BOTTEGONI, FEDERICO;ZUCCHETTI, CARLO;CICCACCI, FRANCO;FINAZZI, MARCO;ISELLA, GIOVANNI
2017-01-01

Abstract

We report on the optical generation of a pure spin current at the indirect gap of bulk Si at room temperature in the photon energy range comprised between 1.2 and 1.8 eV. Spin-polarized electrons are promoted to the Δ-valleys of the Si Brillouin zone by circularly polarized light. The photo-generated spin current is then detected by exploiting a Schottky Pt/Si(001) junction: spin-polarized electrons diffuse toward the Pt/Si interface and enter the Pt layer where the spin current is converted into a transverse electromotive field through the inverse spin-Hall effect (ISHE). The photon energy dependence of the ISHE signal is interpreted in the frame of a one-dimensional spin drift-diffusion model, which allows estimating the electron spin lifetime to be τs=15±5 ns.
2017
Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Optical orientation in Si 4 - FC+GI+MF.pdf

accesso aperto

: Pre-Print (o Pre-Refereeing)
Dimensione 390 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
390 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/1008663
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 12
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 12
social impact