Spin-Photonic Devices and Its Applications

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "E:Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 June 2021) | Viewed by 11801

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary, Research of Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa 226-8503, Japan
Interests: spin-photonic devices; spin-injection; circularly polarized light; biological applications

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Spin-photonics, or spin-optoelectronics, is an emerging sub-field of spintronics that aims at adding spin-based functionality to the conventional optoelectronic devices exploiting the conservation of spin angular momentum between carriers and photons. For the first decade since the first reports on spin-polarized light emitting diodes (spin-LEDs) in 1999, spin-photonic devices had been mostly studied as a tool for investigating the spin-state of carriers in semiconductors or metals. In the next decade up to now, most efforts have been focused at the development of spin-photonics devices for practical use on the basis of the knowledge obtained by research in the previous decades. Recently, several demonstrations and significant progressions of devices that can endure practical use have been reported. Several potential applications in particular have been reported: optical secure communications, light source for storage devices, chiral molecule resolutions, three-dimensional display, biomedical imaging, optically enhanced nuclei imaging. This Special Issue of Micromachines aims to provide the comprehensive view of this field, understandings of device operations, recent progressions of the device development, demonstrations of practical use, and novel application proposals, with novel physical insights and open discussions.

We are looking forward to your submissions.

Dr. Nozomi Nishizawa
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Devices based on semiconductor spintronics:
    • Spin-polarized light emitting diodes
    • Spin lasers
    • Spin photodiodes
  • Devices based on spin-orbit photonics
  • Other devices using carrier spins
  • Applications:
    • Optical communications
    • Light sources for storage devices
    • Imaging and display
    • Biological applications
  • Novel applications using spin-photonic devices

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 4270 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Crystal Quality on Carrier Recombination and Spin Dynamics in (110)-Oriented GaAs/AlGaAs Multiple Quantum Wells at Room Temperature
by Satoshi Iba, Ryogo Okamoto, Koki Obu, Yuma Obata and Yuzo Ohno
Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1112; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12091112 - 16 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1941
Abstract
We have systematically investigated the structural properties, carrier lifetimes, namely, photoluminescence (PL) lifetimes (τPL), and electron spin relaxation times (τs) in (110) GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) by using time-resolved PL measurements. The MQWs were grown by [...] Read more.
We have systematically investigated the structural properties, carrier lifetimes, namely, photoluminescence (PL) lifetimes (τPL), and electron spin relaxation times (τs) in (110) GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) by using time-resolved PL measurements. The MQWs were grown by molecular beam epitaxy within a wide range of the growth temperature Tg (430–600 °C) and a high V/III flux ratio using As2. At 530 °C < Tg < 580 °C, we found that the quality of the heterointerfaces is significantly improved, resulting in τPL~40 ns at RT, one order of magnitude longer than those reported so far. Long τs (~6 ns) is also observed at RT. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spin-Photonic Devices and Its Applications)
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15 pages, 713 KiB  
Article
Possible Routes to Obtain Enhanced Magnetoresistance in a Driven Quantum Heterostructure with a Quasi-Periodic Spacer
by Arpita Koley, Santanu K. Maiti, Laura M. Pérez, Judith Helena Ojeda Silva and David Laroze
Micromachines 2021, 12(9), 1021; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12091021 - 27 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1625
Abstract
In this work, we perform a numerical study of magnetoresistance in a one-dimensional quantum heterostructure, where the change in electrical resistance is measured between parallel and antiparallel configurations of magnetic layers. This layered structure also incorporates a non-magnetic spacer, subjected to quasi-periodic potentials, [...] Read more.
In this work, we perform a numerical study of magnetoresistance in a one-dimensional quantum heterostructure, where the change in electrical resistance is measured between parallel and antiparallel configurations of magnetic layers. This layered structure also incorporates a non-magnetic spacer, subjected to quasi-periodic potentials, which is centrally clamped between two ferromagnetic layers. The efficiency of the magnetoresistance is further tuned by injecting unpolarized light on top of the two sided magnetic layers. Modulating the characteristic properties of different layers, the value of magnetoresistance can be enhanced significantly. The site energies of the spacer is modified through the well-known Aubry–André and Harper (AAH) potential, and the hopping parameter of magnetic layers is renormalized due to light irradiation. We describe the Hamiltonian of the layered structure within a tight-binding (TB) framework and investigate the transport properties through this nanojunction following Green’s function formalism. The Floquet–Bloch (FB) anstaz within the minimal coupling scheme is introduced to incorporate the effect of light irradiation in TB Hamiltonian. Several interesting features of magnetotransport properties are represented considering the interplay between cosine modulated site energies of the central region and the hopping integral of the magnetic regions that are subjected to light irradiation. Finally, the effect of temperature on magnetoresistance is also investigated to make the model more realistic and suitable for device designing. Our analysis is purely a numerical one, and it leads to some fundamental prescriptions of obtaining enhanced magnetoresistance in multilayered systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spin-Photonic Devices and Its Applications)
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11 pages, 1986 KiB  
Article
Spin Laser Local Oscillators for Homodyne Detection in Coherent Optical Communications
by Nobuhide Yokota and Hiroshi Yasaka
Micromachines 2021, 12(5), 573; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12050573 - 18 May 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2861
Abstract
We numerically investigate spin-controlled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (spin-VCSELs) for local oscillators, which are based on an injection locking technique used in coherent optical communications. Under the spin polarization modulation of an injection-locked spin-VCSEL, frequency-shifted and phase-correlated optical sidebands are generated with an orthogonal [...] Read more.
We numerically investigate spin-controlled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (spin-VCSELs) for local oscillators, which are based on an injection locking technique used in coherent optical communications. Under the spin polarization modulation of an injection-locked spin-VCSEL, frequency-shifted and phase-correlated optical sidebands are generated with an orthogonal polarization against the injection light, and one of the sidebands is resonantly enhanced due to the linear birefringence in the spin-VCSEL. We determine that the peak strength and peak frequency in the spin polarization modulation sensitivity of the injection-locked spin-VCSEL depend on detuning frequency and injection ratio conditions. As a proof of concept, 25-Gbaud and 16-ary quadrature amplitude modulation optical data signals and a pilot tone are generated, and the pilot tone is used for the injection locking of a spin-VCSEL. An orthogonally-polarized modulation sideband generated from the injection-locked spin-VCSEL is used as a frequency-shifted local oscillator (LO). We verify that the frequency-shifted LO can be used for the homodyne detection of optical data signals with no degradation. Our findings suggest a novel application of spin-VCSELs for coherent optical communications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spin-Photonic Devices and Its Applications)
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Review

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31 pages, 8928 KiB  
Review
Lateral-Type Spin-Photonics Devices: Development and Applications
by Nozomi Nishizawa and Hiro Munekata
Micromachines 2021, 12(6), 644; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/mi12060644 - 31 May 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3971
Abstract
Spin-photonic devices, represented by spin-polarized light emitting diodes and spin-polarized photodiodes, have great potential for practical use in circularly polarized light (CPL) applications. Focusing on the lateral-type spin-photonic devices that can exchange CPL through their side facets, this review describes their functions in [...] Read more.
Spin-photonic devices, represented by spin-polarized light emitting diodes and spin-polarized photodiodes, have great potential for practical use in circularly polarized light (CPL) applications. Focusing on the lateral-type spin-photonic devices that can exchange CPL through their side facets, this review describes their functions in practical CPL applications in terms of: (1) Compactness and integrability, (2) stand-alone (monolithic) nature, (3) room temperature operation, (4) emission with high circular polarization, (5) polarization controllability, and (6) CPL detection. Furthermore, it introduces proposed CPL applications in a wide variety of fields and describes the application of these devices in biological diagnosis using CPL scattering. Finally, it discusses the current state of spin-photonic devices and their applications and future prospects. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spin-Photonic Devices and Its Applications)
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