Predicting Phonon-Induced Spin Decoherence from First Principles: Colossal Spin Renormalization in Condensed Matter

TL;DR

This paper presents a first-principles approach to predict phonon-induced spin decoherence in semiconductors, revealing colossal spin renormalization effects that limit the performance of spin-based quantum devices.

Contribution

It unifies the modeling of Elliott-Yafet and Dyakonov-Perel mechanisms and introduces a novel calculation of the phonon-dressed spin correlation vertex, showing giant renormalization effects.

Findings

Giant renormalization of electron spin dynamics due to phonons

Unified theoretical framework for EY and DP spin decoherence mechanisms

Quantitative predictions of spin relaxation and precession in semiconductors

Abstract

Developing a microscopic understanding of spin decoherence is essential to advancing quantum technologies. Electron spin decoherence due to atomic vibrations (phonons) plays a special role as it sets an intrinsic limit to the performance of spin-based quantum devices. Two main sources of phonon-induced spin decoherence - the Elliott-Yafet (EY) and Dyakonov-Perel (DP) mechanisms - have distinct physical origins and theoretical treatments. Here we show calculations that unify their modeling and enable accurate predictions of spin relaxation and precession in semiconductors. We compute the phonon-dressed vertex of the spin-spin correlation function, with a treatment analogous to the calculation of the anomalous electron magnetic moment in QED. We find that the vertex correction provides a giant renormalization of the electron spin dynamics in solids, greater by many orders of magnitude than the corresponding correction in vacuum. Our work demonstrates a general approach for quantitative analysis of spin decoherence in materials, advancing the quest for spin-based quantum technologies.