Multi-valley spin relaxation in the presence of high in-plane electric fields in $n$-type GaAs quantum wells

TL;DR

This study explores how high in-plane electric fields influence multi-valley spin relaxation in n-type GaAs quantum wells, revealing a non-monotonic dependence of spin relaxation time on electric field and the role of L valleys as spin polarization drains.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of multi-valley spin dynamics under high electric fields, highlighting the impact of inter-valley scattering and electric-field-induced magnetic fields on spin relaxation.

Findings

Spin relaxation time first increases then decreases with electric field.

L valleys act as a drain of spin polarization due to strong spin-orbit coupling.

Spin precession in L valleys is similar to that in the Γ valley under high electric fields.

Abstract

Multi-valley spin relaxation in $n$-type GaAs quantum wells with in-plane electric field is investigated at high temperature by means of kinetic spin Bloch equation approach. The spin relaxation time first increases and then decreases with electric field, especially when the temperature is relatively low. We show that $L$ valleys play the role of a ``drain'' of the total spin polarization due to the large spin-orbit coupling in $L$ valleys and the strong $\Gamma$-$L$ inter-valley scattering, and thus can enhance spin relaxation of the total system effectively when the in-plane electric field is high. Under electric field, spin precession resulting from the electric-field-induced magnetic field is observed. Meanwhile, due to the strong $\Gamma$-$L$ inter-valley scattering as well as the strong inhomogeneous broadening in $L$ valleys, electron spins in $L$ valleys possess almost the same damping rate and precession frequency as those in $\Gamma$ valley. This feature still holds when a finite static magnetic field is applied in Voigt configuration, despite that the $g$-factor of $L$ valleys is much larger than that of $\Gamma$ valley. Moreover, it is shown that the property of spin precession of the whole system is dominated by electrons in $\Gamma$ valley. Temperature, magnetic field, and impurity can affect spin relaxation in low electric field regime. However, they are shown to have marginal influence in high electric field regime.