Electric field dependence of exciton spin relaxation in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Abstract

We report measurements of the dependence of exciton spin relaxation in quantum-well structures on an external electric field along the growth direction and on the well thickness. The results show that exciton spin relaxation is dominated by electron-hole exchange interaction, and provide a quantitative understanding of various spin-relaxation rates and their dependence on electric field and well thickness.