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Published November 4, 2022 | Published
Journal Article Open

Predicting Phonon-Induced Spin Decoherence from First Principles: Colossal Spin Renormalization in Condensed Matter

Abstract

Developing a microscopic understanding of spin decoherence is essential to advancing quantum technologies. Electron spin decoherence due to atomic vibrations (phonons) plays a special role as it sets an intrinsic limit to the performance of spin-based quantum devices. Two main sources of phonon-induced spin decoherence—the Elliott-Yafet and Dyakonov-Perel mechanisms—have distinct physical origins and theoretical treatments. Here, we show calculations that unify their modeling and enable accurate predictions of spin relaxation and precession in semiconductors. We compute the phonon-dressed vertex of the spin-spin correlation function with a treatment analogous to the calculation of the anomalous electron magnetic moment in QED. We find that the vertex correction provides a giant renormalization of the electron spin dynamics in solids, greater by many orders of magnitude than the corresponding correction from photons in vacuum. Our Letter demonstrates a general approach for quantitative analysis of spin decoherence in materials, advancing the quest for spin-based quantum technologies.

Additional Information

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. DMR-1750613 and QII-TAQS 1936350, which provided for method development, and Grant No. OAC-2209262, which provided for code development. J. P. acknowledges support by the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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Published - PhysRevLett.129.197201.pdf

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Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023