Room temperature spin coherence in ZnO

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron spin coherence in ZnO at various temperatures using optical techniques, revealing long coherence times at low temperatures and persistence of spin precession up to room temperature.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of spin coherence times in bulk and epilayer ZnO samples across a wide temperature range.

Findings

Bulk ZnO has a spin coherence time of 20 ns at 30 K.

Epilayer ZnO shows a maximum T2* of 2 ns at 10 K.

Spin precession persists up to 280 K in epilayer samples.

Abstract

Time-resolved optical techniques are used to explore electron spin dynamics in bulk and epilayer samples of n-type ZnO as a function of temperature and magnetic field. The bulk sample yields a spin coherence time T2* of 20 ns at T = 30 K. Epilayer samples, grown by pulsed laser deposition, show a maximum T2* of 2 ns at T = 10 K, with spin precession persisting up to T = 280 K.