Effect of in-situ deposition of Mg adatoms on spin relaxation in graphene

TL;DR

This study investigates how in-situ Mg adatom deposition affects spin relaxation in graphene, finding that despite increased charged impurity scattering, spin lifetimes remain largely unchanged, suggesting charged impurities are not the dominant relaxation mechanism.

Contribution

It provides systematic experimental evidence that charged impurity scattering from Mg adatoms does not significantly influence spin relaxation times in graphene.

Findings

Charge transport is affected by Mg adatoms, reducing mobility.

Spin relaxation times remain stable despite increased charged impurity scattering.

Charged impurities are not the primary factor in spin relaxation in this regime.

Abstract

We have systematically introduced charged impurity scatterers in the form of Mg adsorbates to exfoliated single layer graphene and observe little variation of the spin relaxation times despite pronounced changes in the charge transport behavior. All measurements are performed on non-local graphene tunneling spin valves exposed in-situ to Mg adatoms, thus systematically introducing atomic-scale charged impurity scattering. While charge transport properties exhibit decreased mobility and decreased momentum scattering times, the observed spin lifetimes are not significantly affected indicating that charged impurity scattering is inconsequential in the present regime of spin relaxation times.