Spin relaxation in semiconductor quantum dots

Abstract

We have studied the physical processes responsible for the spin -flip in GaAs quantum dots. We have calculated the rates for different mechanisms which are related to spin-orbit coupling and cause a spin-flip during the inelastic relaxation of the electron in the dot both with and without a magnetic field. We have shown that the zero-dimensional character of the problem when electron wave functions are localized in all directions leads to freezing out of the most effective spin-flip mechanisms related to the absence of the inversion centers in the elementary crystal cell and at the heterointerface and, as a result, to unusually low spin-flip rates.