2010/10/27 by Matthew D. Mower, Giovanni Vignale, G. Vignale +1
Materials Science · Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic physics #Condensed matter physics #Degenerate energy levels #Electron #Medicine #Nuclear physics #Organic and Molecular Conductors Research #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Relaxation (psychology) #Spin (aerodynamics) #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.83.155205
published as Phys. Rev. B 83, 155205 (2011) · 16 pages, 5 figures
arxiv created 2010/10/27 · openalex publication_date 2011/04/14 · arxiv updated 2011/11/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present an analytical study of the Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation time for degenerate electrons in a photoexcited electron-hole liquid in intrinsic semiconductors exhibiting a spin-split band structure. The Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation of electrons in these materials is controlled by electron-hole scattering, with small corrections from electron-electron scattering and virtually none from electron-impurity scattering. We derive simple expressions (one-dimensional and two-dimensional integrals respectively) for the effective electron-hole and electron-electron scattering rates which enter the spin relaxation time calculation. The electron-hole scattering rate is found to be comparable to the scattering rates from impurities in the electron liquid---a common model for n-type doped semiconductors. As the density of electron-hole pairs decreases (within the degenerate regime), a strong enhancement of the scattering rates and a corresponding slowing down of spin relaxation is predicted due to exchange and correlation effects in the electron-hole liquid. In the opposite limit of high density, the original Dyakonov-Perel model fails due to decreasing scattering rates and is eventually superseded by free precession of individual quasiparticle spins.