Imaging spin flows in semiconductors subject to electric, magnetic, and strain fields

Abstract

Using scanning Kerr microscopy, we directly acquire two-dimensional images of spin-polarized electrons flowing laterally in bulk epilayers of n:GaAs. Optical injection provides a local dc source of polarized electrons, whose subsequent drift and/or diffusion is controlled with electric, magnetic, and - in particular - strain fields. Spin precession induced by controlled uniaxial stress along the <110> axes demonstrates the direct k-linear spin-orbit coupling of electron spin to the shear (off-diagonal) components of the strain tensor.