Effects of Spatial Dispersion in Symmetric and Asymmetric Semiconductor Quantum Wells

• Published in: physica status solidi (b) Vol. 256; no. 6
• Main Authors: Kotova, Lyubov V., Platonov, Alexei V., Kats, Vladimir N., Sorokin, Sergey V., Ivanov, Sergey V., André, Regis, Bugrov, Vladislav E., Kochereshko, Vladimir P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 01.06.2019
• Subjects: Condensed Matter; excitons; light polarization conversion; Physics; semiconductor quantum wells; spatial dispersion
• ISSN: 0370-1972; 1521-3951
• DOI: 10.1002/pssb.201800665

Effects of spatial dispersion in quantum wells are discovered and investigated in detail in reflection experiments. We studied oblique incidence of pure s and p polarized light which has been reflected elliptically polarized. The polarization degree of the reflected light is governed by the in‐plane photon momentum which is the distinctive feature of the spatial dispersion effects. The effects of spatial dispersion are allowed by symmetry in inversion‐asymmetric systems only. Therefore we investigated bulk‐inversion asymmetric ZnSe/ZnMgSSe and structure‐asymmetric GaAs/AlGaAs and CdZnTe/CdTe/CdMgTe quantum wells. We studied the reflected light polarization state in the vicinity of the heavy‐ and light‐exciton resonances where the spatial dispersion effects are resonantly enhanced. The polarization conversion of reflected light from symmetric and asymmetric structures with single quantum wells due to the spatial dispersion effects are investigated. These effects are allowed in inversion‐asymmetric systems only. The corresponding studies allow to separate contributions into the value of the spin‐orbit splitting of the exciton states that relate to the terms of different symmetry.