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arXiv:1203.6355 · Physical Review Letters

Nonperturbative Master Equation Solution of Central Spin Dephasing Dynamics

Edwin Barnes, Łukasz Cywiński, S. Das Sarma

Published Oct 5, 2012• 97 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We solve the long-standing central spin problem for a general set of inhomogeneous bath couplings and a large class of initial bath states. We compute the time evolution of the coherence of a central spin coupled to a spin bath by resumming all orders of the time-convolutionless master equation, thus avoiding the need to assume weak coupling to the bath. The fully quantum, non-markovian solution is obtained in the large-bath limit and is valid up to a time scale set by the largest coupling constant. Our result captures the full decoherence of an electron spin qubit coupled to a nuclear spin bath in a GaAs quantum dot for experimentally relevant parameters. In addition, our solution is quite compact and can readily be used to make quantitative predictions for the decoherence process and to guide the design of nuclear state preparation protocols.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.109.140403

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The dynamics of a spin-1∕21∕21∕2 particle coupled to a nuclear spin bath through an isotropic Heisenberg interaction is studied as a model for the spin decoherence in quantum dots. The time-dependent polarization of the central spin is calculated as a function of the bath-spin distribution and the polarizations of the initial bath state. For short times, the polarization of the central spin shows a Gaussian decay, and at later times it is revived displaying nonmonotonic time dependence. The decoherence time scale depends on moments of the bath-spin distribuition, and also on the polarization strengths in various bath-spin channels. The bath polarizations have a tendency to increase the decoherence time scale. The effective dynamics of the central spin polarization is shown to be described by a master equation with non-Markovian features.
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