Spin relaxation in narrow wires of a two-dimensional electron gas

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin polarization relaxes over time in narrow two-dimensional electron gas wires with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, revealing size-dependent relaxation behaviors and the emergence of spiral spin patterns.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the size-dependent spin relaxation dynamics and pattern formation in confined 2D electron gases with Rashba coupling.

Findings

Relaxation time varies with system size.

Homogeneous spin polarization evolves into a spiral pattern.

Confinement can accelerate or slow down spin relaxation.

Abstract

How does an initially homogeneous spin-polarization in a confined two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba spin-orbit coupling evolve in time? How does the relaxation time depend on system size? We study these questions for systems of a size that is much larger than the Fermi wavelength, but comparable and even shorter than the spin relaxation length. Depending on the confinement spin-relaxation may become faster or slower than in the bulk. An initially homogeneously polarized spin system evolves into a spiral pattern.