Title page for ETD etd-09102010-175624

Type of Document

Dissertation

Author

Frazier, Matthew Allen

URN

etd-09102010-175624

Title

Probe of Coherent and Quantum States in Narrow-Gap Based Semiconductors in the Presence of Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling

Degree

PhD

Department

Physics

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Giti Khodaparast	Committee Chair
Jean Heremans	Committee Member
Rahul Kulkarni	Committee Member
Randy Heflin	Committee Member

Keywords

Circular photo-galvanic effect
Magneto-optical Kerr effect
Spin polarized current
Narrow gap semiconductors

Date of Defense

2010-09-03

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

The goal of this project was to study some unexplored optical and magneto-optical properties
of the newest member of III-V ferromagnetic structures, InMnSb, as well as InSb films
and InSb/AlInSb quantum wells. The emphasis was on dynamical aspects such as charge
and spin dynamics in order to address several important issues of the spin-related phenomena.
The objectives in this project were to: 1) understand charge/spin dynamics in NGS
with different confinement potentials, 2) study phenomena such as interband photo-galvanic
effects, in order to generate spin polarized current, 3) probe the effect of magnetic impurities
on the spin/charge dynamics. This thesis describes three experiments: detection and
measurement of spin polarized photocurrents in InSb films and quantum wells arising from
the circular photogalvanic effect, and measurements of the carrier and spin relaxation in
InSb and InMnSb structures by magneto-optical Kerr effect and differential transmission.
The samples for our studies have been provided by Prof. Heremans at Virginia Tech, Prof.
Santos at the University of Oklahoma, and Prof. Furdyna at the University of Notre Dame.

Files

Filename		Size	Approximate Download Time (Hours:Minutes:Seconds)
Filename		Size	28.8 Modem	56K Modem	ISDN (64 Kb)	ISDN (128 Kb)	Higher-speed Access
	Frazier_MA_D_2010.pdf	4.09 Mb	00:18:55	00:09:44	00:08:31	00:04:15	00:00:21