Band-Structure Effects in the Spin Relaxation of Conduction Electrons
Condensed Matter
2009-10-31 v1
Abstract
Spin relaxation of conduction electrons in metals is significantly influenced by the Fermi surface topology. Electrons near Brillouin zone boundaries, special symmetry points, or accidental degeneracy lines have spin flip rates much higher than an average electron. A realistic calculation and analytical estimates show that these regions dominate the spin relaxation, explaining why polyvalent metals have much higher spin relaxation rates (up to three orders of magnitude) than similar monovalent metals. This suggests that spin relaxation in metals can be tailored by band-structure modifications like doping, alloying, reducing the dimensionality, etc.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9812206,
title = {Band-Structure Effects in the Spin Relaxation of Conduction Electrons},
author = {J. Fabian and S. Das Sarma},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9812206},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
10 pages, 2 figures; to appear in the 43rd MMM Conference Proceedings published in the JAP