Spin Splitting in a 2D Hole System under Uniaxial Compression

Magnetotransport experiments under in-plane [110] uniaxial compression up to 2.4 kbar of a (001) p-GaAs/Al0.5Ga0.5As single heterostructure have been performed. A pronounced redistribution of carriers in the spin-split lowest heavy hole subband in favour of the less populated and lighter mass one is established but the total carrier concentration reveals only a 5% decrease. The difference between the effective masses in spin subbands becomes less. The spin subband splitting decreases by a factor of 2.5 under maximum compression.