Photon-spin controlled lasing oscillation in surface-emitting lasers

We report on photon-spin controlled lasing oscillation in GaAs surface-emitting lasers at room temperature. We demonstrate experimentally that the partial electron-spin alignment, created by optically pumping the GaAs laser active media with circularly polarized pulses, drastically changes the polarization state of the lasing output, causing circularly polarized lasing emission. We discuss the laser polarization characteristics in relation to the measured electron-spin relaxation time.

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