A derivative standard for polarimeter calibration

A long-standing problem in polarized electron physics is the lack of a traceable standard for calibrating electron spin polarimeters. While several polarimeters are absolutely calibrated to better than 2%, the typical instrument has an inherent accuracy no better than 10%. This variability among polarimeters makes it difficult to compare advances in polarized electron sources between laboratories. We have undertaken an effort to establish 100 nm thick molecular beam epitaxy grown GaAs(110) as a material which may be used as a derivative standard for calibrating systems possessing a solid state polarized electron source. The near-bandgap spin polarization of photoelectrons emitted from this material has been characterized for a variety of conditions and several laboratories which possess well calibrated polarimeters have measured the photoelectron polarization of cathodes cut from a common wafer. Despite instrumentation differences, the spread in the measurements is sufficiently small that this material may be used as a derivative calibration standard.