Long-term Dynamics of the Electron-nuclear Spin System of a Semiconductor Quantum Dot

Abstract

A quasi-classical theoretical description of polarization and relaxation of nuclear spins in a quantum dot with one resident electron is developed for arbitrary mechanisms of electron spin polarization. The dependence of the electron-nuclear spin dynamics on the correlation time $τ_c$ of electron spin precession, with frequency $Ω$, in the nuclear hyperfine field is analyzed. It is demonstrated that the highest nuclear polarization is achieved for a correlation time close to the period of electron spin precession in the nuclear field. For these and larger correlation times, the indirect hyperfine field, which acts on nuclear spins, also reaches a maximum. This maximum is of the order of the dipole-dipole magnetic field that nuclei create on each other. This value is non-zero even if the average electron polarization vanishes. It is shown that the transition from short correlation time to $Ωτ_c>1$ does not affect the general structure of the equation for nuclear spin temperature and nuclear polarization in the Knight field, but changes the values of parameters, which now become functions of $Ωτ_c$. For correlation times larger than the precession time of nuclei in the electron hyperfine field, it is found that three thermodynamic potentials ($χ$, $\bmξ$, $ς$) characterize the polarized electron-nuclear spin system. The values of these potentials are calculated assuming a sharp transition from short to long correlation times, and the relaxation mechanisms of these potentials are discussed. The relaxation of the nuclear spin potential is simulated numerically showing that high nuclear polarization decreases relaxation rate.