Calculations of two-color interband optical injection and control of carrier population, spin, current, and spin current in bulk semiconductors

Abstract

Quantum interference between one- and two-photon absorption pathways allows coherent control of interband transitions in unbiased bulk semiconductors; carrier population, carrier spin polarization, photocurrent injection, and spin current injection can all be controlled. We calculate injection spectra for these effects using a 14x14 k.p Hamiltonian including remote band effects for five bulk semiconductors of zinc-blende symmetry: InSb, GaSb, InP, GaAs, and ZnSe. Microscopic expressions for spin-current injection and spin control accounting for spin split bands are presented. We also present analytical expressions for the injection spectra derived in the parabolic-band approximation and compare these with the calculation nonperturbative in k.