Spin dynamics of low-dimensional excitons due to acoustic phonons

Abstract

We investigate the spin dynamics of excitons interacting with acoustic phonons in quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum discs by employing a multiband model based on the 4 × 4 Luttinger Hamiltonian. We also use the Bir–Pikus Hamiltonian to model the coupling of excitons to both longitudinal acoustic phonons and transverse acoustic phonons, thereby providing us with a realistic framework in which to determine details of the spin dynamics of excitons. We use a fractional dimensional formulation to model the excitonic wavefunctions and we demonstrate explicitly the decrease of spin relaxation time with dimensionality. Our numerical results are consistent with experimental results of spin relaxation times for various configurations of the GaAs/Al0.3Ga0.7As material system. We find that longitudinal and transverse acoustic phonons are equally significant in processes of exciton spin relaxations involving acoustic phonons.