Phonon-Induced Spin Relaxation of Conduction Electrons in Aluminum

Abstract

Spin-flip Eliashberg function α2SF and temperature-dependent spin relaxation time T1(T) are calculated for aluminum using realistic pseudopotentials. The spin-flip electron-phonon coupling constant λS is found to be 2.5×10−5. The calculations agree with experiments validating the Elliott-Yafet theory and the spin-hot-spot picture of spin relaxation for polyvalent metals.