June 25, 2020

Photoinduced Persistent Electron Accumulation and Depletion in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 Quantum Wells.

Y. Chen, Y. Lechaux, B. Casals, B. Guillet, A. Minj, J. Gázquez, L. Méchin, and G. Herranz

Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 246804 (2020)

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.246804

Abstract

Persistent photoconductance is a phenomenon found in many semiconductors, by which light induces long-lived excitations in electronic states. Commonly, persistent photoexcitation leads to an increase of carriers (accumulation), though occasionally it can be negative (depletion). Here, we present the quantum well at the LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interface, where in addition to photoinduced accumulation, a secondary photoexcitation enables carrier depletion. The balance between both processes is wavelength dependent, and allows tunable accumulation or depletion in an asymmetric manner, depending on the relative arrival time of photons of different frequencies. We use Green’s function formalism to describe this unconventional photoexcitation, which paves the way to an optical implementation of neurobiologically inspired spike-timing-dependent plasticity.

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