The Department’s Professor Mike Adams explains: 'The research topic is
"Injected Spin Lasers", that is lasers whose output polarisation is
controlled by the injection of spin-polarised electrons. Polarisation is a property
of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. Circular polarisation
of laser radiation means that the tip of the electric field vector, at a fixed
point in space, describes a circle as time progresses. Circular polarisation
is referred to as right or left, depending on the direction in which the electric
field vector rotates. An electron has one of two types of spin: spin up or spin
down. In a spin-injected laser, spin down electrons couple to right circularly
polarised radiation, whilst spin up electrons couple to left circularly polarised
radiation, thus allowing us to control the output polarisation of the laser.'
Read more here (azooptics)
