Scattering from spin-polarized charged impurities in graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin-polarized charged impurities affect spin relaxation in graphene, revealing different behaviors for short- and long-range scatterers and aligning with experimental evidence that long-range impurities dominate spin relaxation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of spin relaxation mechanisms in graphene due to spin-polarized charged impurities, distinguishing the effects of short- and long-range scatterers.

Findings

Spin relaxation time varies with energy depending on impurity range.

Long-range scatterers are likely the main cause of observed spin relaxation.

Results match experimental data, supporting the long-range impurity hypothesis.

Abstract

We study the spin relaxation of charge carriers in graphene in the presence of spin-polarized charged impurities by calculating the time evolution of initially polarized state. The spin relaxation time shows completely different energy behaviour for short-ranged and long-ranged spin scatterers and can be used to identify the dominant source of spin scattering. Our results agree well with recent experimental findings and indicate that their spin relaxation is likely caused by long-ranged scatterers.