Spin injection enhancement in CW VECSEL at room temperature using push–pull optical pumping

Abstract

We report the enhancement of spin injection efficiency in an external-cavity VCSEL based on a non-resonant pumping coupled with a polarized optical resonant illumination. This double pumping scheme allows both the injection of spin polarized electrons in the conduction band and the selection of the spin orientation for the electron/hole recombination laser process. Experimentally, a flip of the polarization state of the laser is achieved with an ellipticity of +31° (spin down) and −33° (spin up), so an increase of about 50% of the ellipticity is achieved in comparison to an optical non-resonant pumping alone.