Spin noise explores local magnetic fields in a semiconductor.

Rapid development of spin noise spectroscopy of the last decade has led to a number of remarkable achievements in the fields of both magnetic resonance and optical spectroscopy. In this report, we demonstrate a new - magnetometric - potential of the spin noise spectroscopy and use it to study magnetic fields acting upon electron spin-system of an n-GaAs layer in a high-Q microcavity probed by elliptically polarized light. Along with the external magnetic field, applied to the sample, the spin noise spectrum revealed the Overhauser field created by optically oriented nuclei and an additional, previously unobserved, field arising in the presence of circularly polarized light.

Ion-beam-assisted spatial modulation of inhomogeneous broadening of a quantum well resonance: excitonic diffraction grating.

We propose a method of spatial modulation of inhomogeneous broadening of a quantum-well excitonic resonance based on local generation of defects produced by a focused ion beam. The method is applied to fabrication of excitonic diffraction grating in a single quantum-well InGaAs/GaAs structure by irradiating the sample with a beam of 35-keV He ions of exposure doses <10  cm. The spectrum of resonant diffraction on such a structure is narrower than that of reflectivity and decreases much faster with increasing temperature.