• 文献标题:   Spin relaxation in corrugated graphene
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   VICENT IM, OCHOA H, GUINEA F
  • 作者关键词:  
  • 出版物名称:   PHYSICAL REVIEW B
  • ISSN:   2469-9950 EI 2469-9969
  • 通讯作者地址:   Inst Madrileno Estudios Avanzados Nanociencia IMD
  • 被引频次:   7
  • DOI:   10.1103/PhysRevB.95.195402
  • 出版年:   2017

▎ 摘  要

In graphene, out-of-plane (flexural) vibrations and static ripples imposed by the substrate relax the electron spin, intrinsically protected by mirror symmetry. We calculate the relaxation times in different scenarios, accounting for all the possible spin-phonon couplings allowed by the hexagonal symmetry of the lattice. Scattering by flexural phonons imposes the ultimate bound to the spin lifetimes, in the ballpark of hundreds of nanoseconds at room temperature. This estimate and the behavior as a function of the carrier concentration are substantially altered by the presence of tensions or pinning with the substrate. Static ripples also influence the spin transport in the diffusive regime, dominated by motional narrowing. We find that the D'yakonov-Perel' mechanism saturates when the mean free path is comparable to the correlation length of the height profile. In this regime, the spin-relaxation times are exclusively determined by the geometry of the corrugations. Simple models for typical corrugations lead to lifetimes of the order of tens of microseconds.