Spin Drag Effect in Temperature Dependence of Spin-Polarized Electron Mobilities

Abstract

The effect of electron–electron scattering on electron transport in spin-polarized, two-dimensional electron gas is studied in semiconductor heterostructures. We calculate electron mobilities for spin-up and -down electrons separately in a GaAs heterostructure at temperatures below 10 K and an electron density of 2 ×1011 cm-2. We find that the electron–electron scattering has a significant influence on the transport in the spin-polarized system. Our numerical calculations show that the contribution from electron–electron scattering, compared with those from impurity scattering and phonon scattering, may be detectable in the temperature dependence of electron mobilities in a high-quality heterostructure when the spin relaxation rate is low.