Relaxation of hole spins in quantum dots via two-phonon processes

Abstract

We investigate theoretically spin relaxation in heavy hole quantum dots in low external magnetic fields. We demonstrate that two-phonon processes and spin-orbit interaction are experimentally relevant and provide an explanation for the recently observed saturation of the spin relaxation rate in heavy hole quantum dots with vanishing magnetic fields. We propose further experiments to identify the relevant spin relaxation mechanisms in low magnetic fields.

5 pages, 2 figures