Electrical spin injection and threshold reduction in a semiconductor laser

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 Apr 6;98(14):146603. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.146603. Epub 2007 Apr 5.

Abstract

A spin-polarized vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser is demonstrated with electrical spin injection from an Fe/Al0.1Ga0.9As Schottky tunnel barrier. Laser operation with a spin-polarized current results in a maximum threshold current reduction of 11% and degree of circular polarization of 23% at 50 K. A cavity spin polarization of 16.8% is estimated from spin-dependent rate equation analysis of the observed threshold reduction.