Phonon bottleneck in the low-excitation limit

Abstract

The phonon-bottleneck problem in the relaxation of two-level systems (spins) via direct phonon processes is considered numerically in the weak-excitation limit where the Schroedinger equation for the spin-phonon system simplifies. The solution for the relaxing spin excitation p(t), emitted phonons n_k(t), etc. is obtained in terms of the exact many-body eigenstates. In the absence of phonon damping Gamma_{ph} and inhomogeneous broadening, p(t) approaches the bottleneck plateau p_\infty > 0 with strongly damped oscillations, the frequency being related to the spin-phonon splitting Delta at the avoided crossing. For any Gamma_{ph} > 0 one has p(t) -> 0 but in the case of strong bottleneck the spin relaxation rate is much smaller than Gamma_{ph} and p(t) is nonexponential. Inhomogeneous broadening exceeding Delta partially alleviates the bottleneck and removes oscillations of p(t). The line width of emitted phonons, as well as Delta, increase with the strength of the bottleneck, i.e., with the concentration of spins.