Dynamic nuclear self-polarization of III-V semiconductors

Koizumi, Mitsuo ; Goto, Jun*; Matsuki, Seishi*

Dynamic nuclear self-polarization (DYNASP) is a phenomenon observed in III-V semiconductors. When electrons of the valence band of a semiconductor are optically excited to the conduction band, a relaxation process of the conduction electrons induces a large nuclear polarization to suddenly occur below a critical temperature. Extending the original theoretical work of Dyakonov et al., we examined the effect of spin distribution of valence electrons excited by the circularly polarized light and the effect of external magnetic field on the phenomenon of the nuclear self-polarization. We found that the nuclear polarization is achieved even above the critical temperatures by the effect of electron polarization and of the external magnetic field. To investigate the phenomenon experimentally, we constructed an apparatus for low-temperature experiments.