Time-Dependent Spin Dynamics of Few Transition Metal Impurities in a Semiconductor Host

• Recently, remarkable progress has been achieved in describing electronic and magnetic properties of individual dopants in semiconductors, both experimentally [1] and theoretically [2, 3], offering exciting prospects for applications in future electronic devices. In view of potential novel applications, which involve communication between individual magnetic dopants, mediated by the electronic carriers of the host, the focus of this research field has been shifting towards fundamental understanding and control of spin dynamics of these atomic-scale magnetic centers. Importantly, the development of time-resolved spectroscopic techniques has opened up the possibility to probe the dynamics of single spin impurities experimentally [4]. These advances pose new challenges for theory, calling for a fully microscopic time-dependent description of spin dynamics of individual impurities in the solid states environment.We present results of theoretical investigations of real-time spin dynamics of individual and pairs of transition metal (Mn) impurities in GaAs. Our approach combines the microscopic tight-binding description of substitutional dopants in semicondutors [3] with the time-dependent scheme for simulations of spin dynamics [5], based on the numerical integration of equations of motion for the coupled system of the itinerant electronic degrees of freedom of the host and the localized impurity spins. We study the spin dynamics of impurities in finite clusters containing up to hundred atoms, over time scales of a few hundred femtoseconds. In particular, we calculate explicitly the time-evolution of the impurity spins and electrons of the host upon weak external perturbations. From the Fourier spectra of the time-dependent spin trajectories, we identify the energy scales associated with intrinsic interactions of the system, namely the spin-orbit interaction and the exchange interaction between the impurity spins and the spins of the nearest-neighbor atoms of the host. Furthermore, we investigate the effective dynamical coupling between the spins of two spatially separated Mn impurities, mediated by the host carriers. We find signatures of ferromagnetic coupling between the impurities in the time-evolution of their spins. Finally, we propose a scheme for investigating the spin relaxation of Mn dopants in GaAs, by extending the time-dependent approach for spin dynamics in an isolated conservative system to the case of an open system, with dephasing mechanisms included as an effective interaction between the system and an external bath [5].

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Den kondenserade materiens fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Condensed Matter Physics (hsv//eng)

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