Electron spin decoherence in diluted magnetic quantum wells

Abstract

We study electron-spin dynamics in diluted magnetic quantum wells. The electrons are coupled by exchange interaction with randomly distributed magnetic ions polarized by magnetic field $\mathbf{B}$. This coupling leads to both spin relaxation and spin decoherence. We demonstrate that even very small spatial fluctuations of quantum well width dramatically increase rate of decoherence. Depending on the strength of exchange interaction and the amplitude of the fluctuations the decoherence can be homogeneous or inhomogeneous. In the homogeneous regime, the transverse (with respect to $\mathbf{B}$) component of electron spin decays on the short time scale exponentially while the long-time spin dynamics obeys a power law. In the inhomogeneous case, the transverse spin component decays exponentially with the exponent quadratic in time.