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The Spin Physics Detector, a universal facility for studying the nucleon spin structure and other spin-related phenomena with polarized proton and deuteron beams, is proposed to be placed in one of the two interaction points of the NICA collider that is under construction at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Dubna, Russia). At the heart of the project there is huge experience with polarized beams at JINR. The main objective of the proposed experiment is the comprehensive study of the unpolarized and polarized gluon content of the nucleon. Spin measurements at the Spin Physics Detector at the NICA collider have bright perspectives to make a unique contribution and challenge our understanding of the spin structure of the nucleon. In this document the Conceptual Design of the Spin Physics Detector is presented.

We report on a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of optical third harmonic generation (THG) on the exciton-polariton resonances in the zinc-blende semiconductors GaAs, CdTe, and ZnSe subject to an external magnetic field, representing a topic that had remained unexplored so far. In these crystals, crystallographic THG is allowed in the electric-dipole approximation, so that no strong magnetic-field-induced changes of the THG are expected. Therefore, it comes as a total surprise that we observe a drastic enhancement of the THG intensity by a factor of fifty for the $1s$-exciton-polariton in GaAs in magnetic fields up to 10 T. In contrast, the corresponding enhancement is moderate for CdTe and almost neglectful for ZnSe. In order to explain this strong variation, we develop a microscopic theory accounting for the optical harmonics generation on exciton-polaritons and analyze the THG mechanisms induced by the magnetic field. The calculations show that the increase of THG intensity is dominated by the magnetic field enhancement of the exciton oscillator strength which is particularly strong for GaAs in the studied range of field strengths. The much weaker increase of THG intensity in CdTe and ZnSe is explained by the considerably larger exciton binding energies, leading to a weaker modification of their oscillator strengths by the magnetic field., Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures

Nonlinear optical phenomena are widely used for the study of semiconductor materials. The paper presents an overview of experimental and theoretical studies of excitons by the method of optical second and third harmonics generation in various bulk semiconductors (GaAs, CdTe, ZnSe, ZnO, Cu$_2$O, (Cd,Mn)Te, EuTe, EuSe), and low-dimensional heterostructures ZnSe/BeTe. Particular attention is paid to the role of external electric and magnetic fields that modify the exciton states and induce new mechanisms of optical harmonics generation. Microscopic mechanisms of harmonics generation based on the Stark effect, the spin and orbital Zeeman effects, and on the magneto-Stark effect specific for excitons moving in an external magnetic field are considered. This approach makes it possible to study the properties of excitons and to obtain new information on their energy and spin structure that is not available when the excitons are investigated by linear optical spectroscopy. As a result of these studies, a large amount of information was obtained, which allows us to conclude on the establishing of a new field of research - exciton spectroscopy by the method of optical harmonics generation., Comment: 35 pages, 13 figures, to be published in Solid State Physics Journal (St. Petersburg, Russia as translation of Fizika Tverdogo Tela)

A time-resolved optical pump-probe technique has been applied for studying the ultrafast dynamics in the magnetic semiconductor EuTe near the absorption band gap. We show that application of external magnetic field up to 6 T results in crossover from the inverse Faraday effect taking place on the femtosecond time scale to the optical orientation phenomenon with an evolution in the picosecond time domain. We propose a model which includes both these processes possessing different spectral and temporal properties. The circularly polarized optical pumping induces the optical electronic transition $4f^75d^0 \rightarrow 4f^65d^1$ forming the absorption band gap in EuTe. The observed crossover is related to a strong magnetic-field shift of the band gap in EuTe at low temperatures. It was found that manipulation of spin states on intrinsic defect levels takes place on a time scale of 19 ps in the applied magnetic field of 6 T., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

We explore a thermal mechanism of changing the anisotropy by femtosecond laser pulses in dielectric ferrimagnetic garnets by taking a low symmetry (YBiPrLu)3(FeGa)5O12 film grown on the (210)-oriented Gd3Ga5O12 substrate as a model media. We demonstrate by means of spectral magneto-optical pump-probe technique and phenomenological analysis, that the magnetization precession in such a film is triggered by laser-induced changes of the growth-induced magnetic anisotropy along with the well-known ultrafast inverse Faraday effect. The change of magnetic anisotropy is mediated by the lattice heating induced by laser pulses of arbitrary polarization on a picosecond time scale. We show that the orientation of the external magnetic field with respect to the magnetization easy plane noticeably affects the precession excited via the anisotropy change. Importantly, the relative contributions from the ultrafast inverse Faraday effect and the change of different growth-induced anisotropy parameters can be controlled by varying the applied magnetic field strength and direction. As a result, the amplitude and the initial phase of the excited magnetization precession can be gradually tuned., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 2 table

Nonlinear optics of semiconductors is an important field of fundamental and applied research, but surprisingly the role of excitons in the coherent processes leading to harmonics generation has remained essentially unexplored. Here we report results of a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of the three-photon process of optical second harmonic generation (SHG) involving the exciton resonances of the noncentrosymmetric hexagonal wide-band-gap semiconductor ZnO in the photon energy range of 3.2-3.5 eV. Resonant crystallographic SHG is observed for the 1s(A,B), 2s(A,B), 2p(A,B), and 1s(C) excitons. We show that strong SHG signals at these exciton resonances are induced by the application of a magnetic field when the incident and the SHG light wave vectors are along the crystal z-axis where the crystallographic SHG response vanishes. A microscopic theory of SHG generation through excitons is developed, which shows that the nonlinear interaction of coherent light with excitons has to be considered beyond the electric-dipole approximation. Depending on the particular symmetry of the exciton states SHG can originate from the electric- and magnetic-field-induced perturbations of the excitons due to the Stark effect, the spin as well as orbital Zeeman effects, or the magneto-Stark effect. The importance of each mechanism is analyzed and discussed by confronting experimental data and theoretical results for the dependencies of the SHG signals on photon energy, magnetic field, electric field, crystal temperature, and light polarization. Good agreement is obtained between experiment and theory proving the validity of our approach to the complex problem of nonlinear interaction of light with ZnO excitons. This general approach can be applied also to other semiconductors., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures

Amplification of the photocurrent in heterostructures of silicon dioxide films containing cobalt nanoparticles grown on gallium arsenide SiO2(Co)/GaAs has been observed in magnetic field in the avalanche regime. While the avalanche process is suppressed by the magnetic field and the current decreases, for photon energy E greater than the GaAs bandgap energy the photocurrent significantly increases. The amplification reaches 9.5 for E = 1.50 eV. The effect of the photocurrent amplification is explained by the spin-dependent recombination process at deep impurity centers in GaAs., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

In the avalanche regime we observed the negative photoconductance of heterostructures of silicon dioxide films containing cobalt nanoparticles grown on gallium arsenide, SiO2(Co)/GaAs. Light irradiation with the photon energy less than the bandgap energy of the GaAs creates holes trapped on defects within the GaAs bandgap, suppresses the avalanche feedback and causes a reduction of the current flowing in the SiO2(Co)/GaAs., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We report on optical studies of the thin films of multiferroic hexagonal (P.G. 6mm) rare-earth orthoferrites RFeO3 (R=Ho, Er, Lu) grown epitaxially on a (111)-surface of ZrO2(Y2O3) substrate. The optical absorption study in the range of 0.6-5.6 eV shows that the films are transparent below 1.9 eV; above this energy four broad intense absorption bands are distinguished. The absorption spectra are analyzed taking into account the unusual fivefold coordination of the Fe(3+) ion. Temperature dependence of the optical absorption at 4.9 eV shows anomaly at 124 K, which we attribute to magnetic ordering of iron sublattices., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 22 references. Copyright (2012) American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics and may be found at http://link.aip.org/link/?jap/111/056105

Spectroscopy of the centrosymmetric magnetic semiconductors EuTe and EuSe reveals spin-induced optical second harmonic generation (SHG) in the band gap vicinity at 2.1-2.4eV. The magnetic field and temperature dependence demonstrates that the SHG arises from the bulk of the materials due to a novel type of nonlinear optical susceptibility caused by the magnetic dipole contribution combined with spontaneous or induced magnetization. This spin-induced susceptibility opens access to a wide class of centrosymmetric systems by harmonics generation spectroscopy., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PRL