Optical initialization of hole spins in p-doped quantum dots: orientation efficiency and loss of coherence

Abstract

We study theoretically the recently proposed hole spin initialization scheme for $p$-doped quantum well or dot systems via coupling to trion states with sub-picosecond circularly polarized laser pulses. We analyze the efficiency of spin initialization an predict the intrinsic spin coherence loss due to the pulse excitation itself as well as the phonon-induced spin dephasing, both taking place on the timescale of the driving laser pulse. We show that the ratio of the degree of dephasing to the achieved orientation effect does not depend on the pulse area but is sensitive to the temperature and detuning. The optimal excitation parameters are identified.