Nonequilibrium nuclear polarization and induced hyperfine and dipolar magnetic fields in semiconductor nanostructures

We investigate the dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) caused by hyperfine coupling between nonequilibrium electronic spins and nuclear spins in semiconductor nanostructures. We derive the time and position dependence of the resulting hyperfine and dipolar magnetic fields. In GaAs quantum wells the induced nuclear spin polarization greatly exceeds the polarization of the electronic system that causes the DNP. The induced magnetic fields vary between tens of tesla for the electronic hyperfine field acting on nuclei, to hundreds of gauss for the nuclear hyperfine field acting on electrons, to a few gauss for the induced nuclear dipolar fields that act on both nuclei and electrons. The field strengths should be measurable via optically induced nuclear magnetic resonance or time-resolved Faraday rotation experiments. We discuss the implications of our calculations for low-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures.