Confinement-enhanced spin relaxation for electron ensembles in large quantum dots

Koop, E. J.; van Wees, B. J.; van der Wal, C. H.

Confinement-enhanced spin relaxation for electron ensembles in large quantum dots

Authors

Koop, E. J.

van Wees, B. J.

van der Wal, C. H.

Description

We present a numerical study of spin relaxation in a semiclassical electron ensemble in a large ballistic quantum dot. The dot is defined in a GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction system with a two-dimensional electron gas, and relaxation occurs due to Dresselhaus and Rashba spin orbit interaction. We find that confinement in a micronscale dot can result in strongly enhanced relaxation with respect to a free two-dimensional electron ensemble, contrary to the established result that strong confinement or frequent momentum scattering reduces relaxation. This effect occurs when the size of the system is on the order of the spin precession length, but smaller than the mean free path.
5 pages, 3 figures