American Institute of Physics, Journal of Applied Physics, 8(120), p. 085702, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/1.4961416
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Compressively strained Ge quantum well devices have a spin-splitting in applied magnetic field that is entirely consistent with a Zeeman effect in the heavy hole valence band. The spin orientation is determined by the biaxial strain in the quantum well with the relaxed SiGe buffer layers and is quantized in the growth direction perpendicular to the conducting channel. The measured spin-splitting in the resistivity ρxx agrees with the predictions of the Zeeman Hamiltonian where the Shubnikov-deHaas effect exhibits a loss of even filling factor minima in the resistivity ρxx with hole depletion from a gate field, increasing disorder or increasing temperature. There is no measurable Rashba spin-orbit coupling irrespective of the structural inversion asymmetry of the confining potential in low p-doped or undoped Ge quantum wells from a density of 6 × 1010 cm−2 in depletion mode to 1.7 × 1011 cm−2 in enhancement.