Carrier and Spin Dynamics in Large Spin-Orbit Semiconductor Nanowire Heterostructures

非技术性摘要：本项目主要研究人工生长纳米结构的性质，这种纳米结构具有很强的自旋相互作用。 人们对使用这种材料作为在计算机中使用自旋态的量子性质的基础有着极大的兴趣，因为这些材料允许使用施加的磁场或电场来控制和操纵自旋。 该项目中的研究小组使用中红外线中的超快激光脉冲来测量单个纳米线中这些电子状态的动态，以了解哪些基本相互作用主导其行为。 有了这些信息，该小组可以优化物理纳米结构的特定特性，这些特性既可用于基础物理学，也可用于新技术。 该项目涉及培养本科生和研究生在国家的最先进的技术，制造和测量纳米结构，这被认为是一个关键的需要，为未来的经济增长在美国。技术摘要：该项目是研究半导体纳米线异质结构具有大的自旋轨道相互作用的性质，这通常也是材料的小带隙。 这些材料被认为是重要的候选者作为自旋电子器件的发展的基础，因为自旋状态可以使用施加的磁场和电场来控制和操纵。 该研究小组使用泵浦探测测量单个纳米线在中红外线中的瑞利散射效率，以探测电子状态及其在外加电场和磁场中的动态。 这项研究的基本目标是了解纳米结构中的基本相互作用控制它们的动力学，以便找到设计纳米结构的方法来控制这些状态。 这种优化的纳米结构可以作为研究新物理和开发新技术的基础。 该项目的研究生和本科生都接受了最先进的合成技术以及光谱学的培训，这些技术提供了单个纳米结构内能量状态及其相互作用的灵敏测量。

Non-Technical Abstract:This project is to research the properties of artificially grown nanostructures which have the special property that they have very strong spin interactions. There is tremendous interest in using such materials as a basis for using the quantum nature of spin states in computers, because these materials allow control and manipulation of the spins using either applied magnetic or electric fields. The research group in this project uses ultrafast laser pulses in the mid-infrared to measure the dynamics of these electronic states in single nanowires in order to understand what fundamental interactions dominate their behavior. With this information the group can optimize the physical nanostructure for specific properties which can be used in both fundamental physics and also for new technologies. This project involves training undergraduate and graduate students in state-of-the art techniques for fabricating and measuring nanostructures which is considered a critical need for the future economic growth in the United States.Technical Abstract:This project is to research the properties of semiconductor nanowire heterostructures which have large spin-orbit interactions, which usually are also materials with small band gaps. These materials are considered important candidates as a basis for development of spintronic devices because the spin states can be controlled and manipulated using applied magnetic and electric fields. The research group uses pump-probe measurements of the Rayleigh scattering efficiency in the mid-infrared from single nanowires in order to probe the electronic states and their dynamics in applied electric and magnetic fields. The fundamental goal of this research is to understand what fundamental interactions in the nanostructure control their dynamics in order to find ways to design the nanostructure in order to control these states. Such optimized nanostructures can be used as a basis for the study of new physics and the development of new technologies. Both graduate and undergraduate students in this project are trained in state-of-the-art synthesis techniques as well as optical spectroscopies which provide sensitive measure of energy states and their interactions within single nanostructures.