Control of spin coherence in $n$-type GaAs quantum wells using strain

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that applying strain to (001) GaAs quantum wells can significantly enhance spin coherence times by modifying spin-orbit coupling, with potential for improved spintronic device performance.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control spin coherence in GaAs quantum wells through strain-induced spin-orbit coupling modification, achieving nanosecond spin lifetimes.

Findings

Spin lifetime increased by two orders of magnitude under optimal strain conditions.

Strain manipulation effectively alters spin dephasing times across various temperatures and electric fields.

The approach provides a tunable way to enhance spin coherence in quantum well structures.

Abstract

We show that the bulk-inversion-asymmetry-type strain-induced spin-orbit coupling can be used to effectively modify the Dresselhaus spin splitting in (001) GaAs quantum wells with small well width and the resulting spin lifetime can be increased by two orders of magnitude to nanoseconds under right conditions. The efficiency of this strain manipulation of the spin dephasing time under different conditions such as temperature, electric field and electron density is investigated in detail.