Effect of electron-electron interaction on spin relaxation of charge carriers in semiconductors

Abstract

An analysis of spin dynamics is presented for semiconductor systems without inversion symmetry that exhibit spin splitting. It is shown that electron-electron interaction reduces the rate of the Dyakonov-Perel (precession) mechanism of spin relaxation both via spin mixing in the momentum space and via the Hartree-Fock exchange interaction in spin-polarized electron gas. The change in the Hartree-Fock contribution with increasing nonequilibrium spin polarization is analyzed. Theoretical predictions are compared with experimental results on spin dynamics in GaAs/AlGaAs-based quantum-well structures. The effect of electron-electron collisions is examined not only for two-dimensional electron gas in a quantum well, but also for electron gas in a bulk semiconductor and a quantum wire.