Electric field dependence of spin coherence in (001) GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

TL;DR

This study investigates how electric fields influence spin coherence in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells, revealing a significant but smaller-than-expected enhancement in spin lifetimes at room temperature due to nonlinear effects.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of electric field effects on spin lifetimes in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells, correcting previous overestimations and highlighting nonlinear effects.

Findings

Spin lifetimes increase by roughly a factor of four at optimal electric fields.

Previous overestimations of zero-field spin lifetime affected earlier results.

Nonlinear effects play a significant role in spin coherence modifications.

Abstract

Conduction electron spin lifetimes ($T_1$) and spin coherence times ($T_2$) are strongly modified in semiconductor quantum wells by electric fields. Quantitative calculations in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells at room temperature show roughly a factor of four enhancement in the spin lifetimes at optimal values of the electric fields. The much smaller enhancement compared to previous calculations is due to overestimates of the zero-field spin lifetime and the importance of nonlinear effects.