• 文献标题:   Electron spin relaxation in graphene nanoribbon quantum dots
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   DROTH M, BURKARD G
  • 作者关键词:  
  • 出版物名称:   PHYSICAL REVIEW B
  • ISSN:   1098-0121
  • 通讯作者地址:   Univ Konstanz
  • 被引频次:   17
  • DOI:   10.1103/PhysRevB.87.205432
  • 出版年:   2013

▎ 摘  要

Graphene is promising as a host material for electron spin qubits because of its predicted potential for long coherence times. In armchair graphene nanoribbons (aGNRs) a small band gap is opened, allowing for electrically gated quantum dots, and furthermore the valley degeneracy is lifted. The spin lifetime T-1 is limited by spin relaxation, where the Zeeman energy is absorbed by lattice vibrations, mediated by spin-orbit and electron-phonon coupling. We have calculated T-1 by treating all couplings analytically and find that T-1 can be in the range of seconds for several reasons: (i) low phonon density of states away from Van Hove singularities; (ii) destructive interference between two relaxation mechanisms; (iii) Van Vleck cancellation at low magnetic fields; (iv) vanishing coupling to out-of-plane modes in lowest order due to the electronic structure of aGNRs. Owing to the vanishing nuclear spin of C-12, T-1 may be a good measure for overall coherence. These results and recent advances in the controlled production of graphene nanoribbons make this system interesting for spintronics applications.