Electron-electron interaction induced spin thermalization in quasi-low-dimensional spin valves

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron-electron interactions cause spin thermalization in small spin valves, focusing on the effects of reduced dimensions on energy exchange rates and regularization by sample size.

Contribution

It introduces models for spin thermalization in quasi-1D and quasi-2D spin valves, highlighting the impact of dimensional constraints on spin energy exchange rates.

Findings

Spin energy exchange rate diverges in reduced dimensions without regularization.

Regularization by sample dimensions is necessary for accurate modeling.

Different behaviors are observed in quasi-1D and quasi-2D systems.

Abstract

We study the spin thermalization, i.e., the inter-spin energy relaxation mediated by electron-electron scattering in small spin valves. When one or two of the dimensions of the spin valve spacer are smaller than the thermal coherence length, the direct spin energy exchange rate diverges and needs to be regularized by the sample dimensions. Here we consider two model systems: a long quasi-1D wire and a thin quasi-2D sheet.