Nuclear magnetic resonance and nuclear spin relaxation in AlAs quantum well probed by ESR

Abstract

The study of nuclear magnetic resonance and nuclear spin-lattice relaxation was conducted in an asymmetrically doped to $n\sim1.8\times10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ 16 nm AlAs quantum well grown in the $[001]$-direction. Dynamic polarization of nuclear spins due to the hyperfine interaction resulted in the so-called Overhauser shift of the two-dimensional conduction electron spin resonance. The maximum shifts achieved in the experiments are several orders of magnitude smaller than in GaAs-based heterostructures indicating that hyperfine interaction is weak. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time extracted from the decay of Overhauser shift over time turned out to depend on the filling factor of the two-dimensional electron system. This observation indicates that nuclear spin-lattice relaxation is mostly due to the interaction between electron and nuclear spins. Overhauser shift diminishes resonantly when the RF-radiation of certain frequencies was applied to the sample. This effect served as an indirect, yet powerful method for nuclear magnetic resonance detection: NMR quadrupole splitting of $^{75}$As nuclei was clearly resolved. Theoretical calculations performed describe well these experimental findings.