Spin relaxation of electrons excited in p-doped semiconductor heterostructures

Abstract

We present a calculation of the spin-relaxation time of photoexcited electrons in p-doped quantum wells of GaAs with the spin-flip mechanism due to the electron–hole exchange interaction. We have observed shorter spin-relaxation times for electrons close to the conduction-band edge when including the spin mixing of the valence-hole states. This spin mixing allows exchange spin-relaxation channels which are energy forbidden in the case of pure-spin holes.