Spin relaxation due to spin–orbit coupling in multi-electron quantum dots

• Published in: Physica. E, Low-dimensional systems & nanostructures Vol. 40; no. 6; pp. 1804 - 1806
• Main Authors: Climente, J.I., Bertoni, A., Goldoni, G., Rontani, M., Molinari, E.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-04-2008; Elsevier
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; Many-body effects; Phonon scattering; Physics; Quantum dots; Spin–orbit; 72.10.Di; Spin–orbit; 73.22.Lp; Quantum dots; 73.21.La; 71.70.Ej; Many-body effects; Phonon scattering; Aluminium arsenides; Many body theory; Gallium arsenides; Semiconductor materials; Two-level systems; 73.21.La; 71.70.Ej; 72.10.Di; 73.22.Lp; Zeeman effect; Many electron system; Spin relaxation; Spin-orbit interactions; Quantum dots; Spin-orbit; Phonon scattering; Many-body effects; Singlet triplet transition; Carrier density
• ISSN: 1386-9477; 1873-1759
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physe.2007.09.127

We show that the number of electrons confined in a semiconductor quantum dot has a strong influence over the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit (SO) admixture. This can be exploited to improve the lifetime of spin excitations, as compared to the usual one- and two-electron devices. The physical mechanisms reducing SO admixture are discussed, and numerical results for realistic weakly confined GaAs/AlGaAs dots are reported.