Electron spin relaxation in bilayer graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron spin relaxation mechanisms in bilayer graphene, revealing unique effects of intervalley scattering and spin-orbit coupling that differ from single-layer graphene and semiconductors.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed model of spin-orbit coupling in bilayer graphene and uncovers the significant role of intervalley scattering in spin relaxation, with predictions matching experimental observations.

Findings

Intervalley electron-phonon scattering suppresses in-plane spin relaxation at high temperature.

A nonmonotonic temperature dependence of spin relaxation time with a minimum is predicted.

A low-temperature peak in density dependence of spin relaxation time is found.

Abstract

Electron spin relaxation due to the D'yakonov-Perel' mechanism is investigated in bilayer graphene with only the lowest conduction band being relevant. The spin-orbit coupling is constructed from the symmetry group analysis with the parameters obtained by fitting to the numerical calculation according to the latest report by Konschuh {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 85}, 115423 (2012)] from first principles. In contrast to single-layer graphene, the leading term of the out-of-plane component of the spin-orbit coupling in bilayer graphene shows a Zeeman-like term with opposite effective magnetic fields in the two valleys. This Zeeman-like term opens a spin relaxation channel in the presence of intervalley scattering. It is shown that the intervalley electron-phonon scattering, which has not been reported in the previous literature, strongly suppresses the in-plane spin relaxation time at high temperature whereas the intervalley short-range scattering plays an important role in the in-plane spin relaxation especially at low temperature. A marked nonmonotonic dependence of the in-plane spin relaxation time on temperature with a minimum of several hundred picoseconds is predicted in the absence of the short-range scatterers. This minimum is comparable to the experimental data. Moreover, a peak in the electron density dependence of the in-plane spin relaxation time at low temperature, which is very different from the one in semiconductors, is predicted. We also find a rapid decrease in the in-plane spin relaxation time with increasing initial spin polarization at low temperature, which is opposite to the situation in both semiconductors and single-layer graphene. ......(The remaining is cut due to the limit of space)