Spin relaxation in n-type GaAs quantum wells from a fully microscopic approach

We perform a full microscopic investigation on the spin relaxation in n-type (001) GaAs quantum wells with an Al0.4Ga0.6As barrier due to the D'yakonov-Perel' mechanism from nearly 20 K to room temperature by constructing and numerically solving the kinetic spin Bloch equations. We consider all the relevant scattering such as the electron-acoustic-phonon, the electron-longitudinal-optical-phonon, the electron-nonmagnetic-impurity, and the electron-electron Coulomb scattering to the spin relaxation. The spin relaxation times calculated from our theory with a fitting spin splitting parameter are in good agreement with the experimental data by Ohno [Physica E (Amsterdam) 6, 817 (2000)] over the whole temperature regime (from 20 to 300 K). The value of the fitted spin splitting parameter agrees with many experiments and theoretical calculations. We further show the temperature dependence of the spin relaxation time under various conditions such as electron density, impurity density, and well width. We predict a peak solely due to the Coulomb scattering in the spin relaxation time at low temperature (< 50 K) in samples with low electron density (e.g., density less than 1x10(11) cm(-2)) but high mobility. This peak disappears in samples with high electron density (e.g., 2x10(11) cm(-2)) and/or low mobility. The hot-electron spin kinetics at low temperature is also addressed with many features quite different from the high-temperature case predicted.