Electron spin coherence and effect of spin polarization on electron relaxation dynamics in GaAs

Time-resolved circularly and linearly polarized pump-probe spectroscopy is used to study the evolution of the electron spin coherence and electron relaxation dynamics in bulk GaAs at 9.6 K. In particular, their dependence on photon energy (or electron excess energy) is carefully investigated. The absorption quantum beats which are observed in circularly polarized pump-probe spectroscopy are obtained, reflecting the dephasing of the electron spin coherence. A circularly dichromatic pump-probe model is developed with both the spin-polarization-dependent band-filling and band-gap renormalization effects being taken into account. The model is used to simulate the differential transmission spectra for the collinearly polarized, co-helicity circularly polarized and cross-helicity circularly polarized pump-probe configurations, respectively. It is found that the model simulates well the features of the absorption quantum beats for a spin-dependent thermalized distribution of the photocreated carriers by a circularly polarized pump pulse, such as the variation of the oscillatory amplitude and phase reversal of the absorption quantum beats with photon energy increase. The simulation is in good agreement with our experimental results and reveals the effect of spin polarization on electron relaxation dynamics.