Spin Relaxation in InAs Columnar Quantum Dots

We have investigated carrier spin dynamics in InAs columnar quantum dots (CQDs) by time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurement. The CQDs were formed by depositing a 1.8 monolayer InAs seed dot layer and a short-period GaAs/InAs superlattice (SL). The spin relaxation time was found to be prolonged from 1.6 to 5.3 ns by increasing the number of SL periods from 3 to 35. The PL decay time also increased from 0.93 to 1.9 ns, indicating a decrease in the spatial overlap of electron and hole wave functions. The changes in both the spin relaxation time and the PL decay time suggest that the Bir-Aronov-Pikus process is the main spin relaxation mechanism. (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics