Many-body theory of phonon-induced spin relaxation and decoherence

Abstract

First-principles calculations enable accurate predictions of electronic interactions and dynamics. However, computing the electron spin dynamics remains challenging. The spin-orbit interaction causes various dynamical phenomena that couple with phonons, such as spin precession and spin-flip e-ph scattering, which are difficult to describe with current first-principles calculations. In this work, we show a rigorous framework to study phonon-induced spin relaxation and decoherence, by computing the spin-spin correlation function and its vertex corrections due to e-ph interactions. We apply this approach to a model system and develop corresponding first-principles calculations of spin relaxation in GaAs. Our vertex-correction formalism is shown to capture the Elliott-Yafet, Dyakonov-Perel, and strong-precession mechanisms - three independent spin decoherence regimes with distinct physical origins - thereby unifying their theoretical treatment and calculation. Our method is general and enables quantitative studies of spin relaxation, decoherence, and transport in a wide range of materials and devices.

13 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Quantum ESPRESSO: a modular and open-source software project for quantum simulations of materials
• Fast universal quantum control above the fault-tolerance threshold in silicon
• Ab initio Electron Mobility and Polar Phonon Scattering in GaAs
• First-principles dynamics of electrons and phonons
• Quantum Kinetic Theory of the Chiral Anomaly
• Ab initio electron-phonon interactions in correlated electron systems
• Magnetotransport in semiconductors and two-dimensional materials from first principles
• Vertex corrections to the dc conductivity in anisotropic multiband systems
• Predicting Phonon-Induced Spin Decoherence from First Principles: Colossal Spin Renormalization in Condensed Matter

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Combining Electron-Phonon and Dynamical Mean-Field Theory Calculations of Correlated Materials: Transport in the Correlated Metal Sr${}_2$RuO${}_4$
• Predicting Phonon-Induced Spin Decoherence from First Principles: Colossal Spin Renormalization in Condensed Matter
• Nonlinear Hall effect from long-lived valley-polarizing relaxons
• Beyond-quasiparticle transport with vertex correction: self-consistent ladder formalism for electron-phonon interactions
• Charge carrier relaxation dynamics in the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model