Spin relaxation in diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dots

Abstract

Electron spin relaxation induced by phonon-mediated s-d exchange interaction in a II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dot is investigated theoretically. The electron-acoustic phonon interaction due to piezoelectric coupling and deformation potential is included. The resulting spin lifetime is typically on the order of microseconds. The effectiveness of the phonon-mediated spin-flip mechanism increases with increasing Mn concentration, electron spin splitting, vertical confining strength and lateral diameter, while it shows non-monotonic dependence on the magnetic field and temperature. An interesting finding is that the spin relaxation in a small quantum dot is suppressed for strong magnetic field and low Mn concentration at low temperature.

11 pages, 11 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. B