Spin-relaxation anisotropy in a nanowire quantum dot with strong spin-orbit coupling

Abstract

We study the impacts of the magnetic field direction on the spin-manipulation and the spin-relaxation in a one-dimensional quantum dot with strong spin-orbit coupling. The energy spectrum and the corresponding eigenfunctions in the quantum dot are obtained exactly. We find that no matter how large the spin-orbit coupling is, the electric-dipole spin transition rate as a function of the magnetic field direction always has a $π$ periodicity. However, the phonon-induced spin relaxation rate as a function of the magnetic field direction has a $π$ periodicity only in the weak spin-orbit coupling regime, and the periodicity is prolonged to $2π$ in the strong spin-orbit coupling regime.

8 pages, 4 figures