Predicting Phonon-Induced Spin Decoherence from First Principles—Colossal Spin Renormalization in Condensed Matter

Developing a microscopic understanding of spin decoherence is essential to advancing quantum technologies. Electron spin decoherence due to atomic vibrations (phonons) plays a special role as it sets an intrinsic limit to the performance of spin-based quantum devices. Two main sources of phonon-induced spin decoherence - the Elliott-Yafet (EY) and Dyakonov-Perel (DP) mechanisms - have distinct physical origins and theoretical treatments. Here we show a rigorous framework that unifies their modeling and enable accurate predictions of spin relaxation and precession in semiconductors [1]. We compute the phonon-dressed vertex of the spin-spin correlation function, with a treatment analogous to the calculation of the anomalous electron magnetic moment in QED [2]. We find that the vertex correction provides a giant renormalization of the electron spin dynamics in solids, greater by many orders of magnitude than the corresponding correction in vacuum. Our work demonstrates a general approach for quantitative analysis of spin decoherence in materials, advancing the quest for spin-based quantum technologies.<br/><br/>[1] J. Park, Y. Luo, J.-J. Zhou, and M. Bernardi. "Many-body theory of phonon-induced spin relaxation and decoherence." Preprint: arXiv:2208.09575<br/>[2] J. Park, J.-J. Zhou, Y. Luo, and M. Bernardi. "Predicting Phonon-Induced Spin Decoherence from First Principles: Colossal Spin Renormalization in Condensed Matter." Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press) Preprint: arXiv:2203.06401