Effect of electron-electron scattering on spin dephasing in a high-mobility low-density two-dimensional electron gas

Abstract

By utilizing time-resolved Kerr rotation techniques, we have investigated the spin dynamics of a high-mobility low density two-dimensional electron gas in a $\text{GaAs}/{\text{Al}}_{0.35}{\text{Ga}}_{0.65}\text{As}$ heterostructure in the dependence on temperature from 1.5 to 30 K. It is found that the spin relaxation/dephasing time under a magnetic field of 0.5 T exhibits a maximum of 3.12 ns around 14 K, which is superimposed on an increasing background with rising temperature. The appearance of the maximum is ascribed to that at the temperature where the crossover from the degenerate to the nondegenerate regime takes place, electron-electron Coulomb scattering becomes strongest, and thus inhomogeneous precession broadening due to the D'yakonov--Perel' mechanism becomes weakest. These results agree with the recent theoretical predictions [J. Zhou et al., Phys. Rev. B 75, 045305 (2007)], which verify the importance of electron-electron Coulomb scattering to electron spin relaxation/dephasing.