Spin relaxation in Rashba rings

Abstract

Spin relaxation dynamics in rings with Rashba spin-orbit coupling is investigated using spin kinetic equation. We find that the spin relaxation in rings occurs toward a persistent spin configuration whose final shape depends on the initial spin polarization profile. As an example, it is shown that a homogeneous parallel to the ring axis spin polarization transforms into a persistent crown-like spin structure. It is demonstrated that the ring geometry introduces a geometrical contribution to the spin relaxation rate speeding up the transient dynamics. Moreover, we identify several persistent spin configurations as well as calculate the Green function of spin kinetic equation.