Coherent propagation of spin helices in a quantum-well confined electron gas

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Dec 14;109(24):246603. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.246603. Epub 2012 Dec 12.

Abstract

We use phase-resolved transient grating spectroscopy to measure the propagation of spin helices in a high mobility n-GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well with an applied in-plane electric field. At relatively low fields helical modes crossover from overdamped excitations where the spin-precession period exceeds the spin lifetime, to a regime of coherent propagation where several spin-precession periods can be observed. We demonstrate that the envelope of a spin polarization packet reaches a current-driven velocity of 10(7) cm s(-1) in an applied field of 70 V cm(-1).