Electron-spin decoherence in bulk and quantum-well zinc-blende semiconductors

Abstract
A theory for longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) electron spin coherence times in zinc-blende semiconductor quantum wells is developed based on a nonperturbative nanostructure model solved in a fourteen-band restricted basis set. Distinctly different dependences of coherence times on mobility, quantization energy, and temperature are found from previous calculations. Quantitative agreement between our calculations and measurements is found for GaAs/AlGaAs, InGaAs/InP, and GaSb/AlSb quantum wells.