Breakdown of the Korringa law of nuclear spin relaxation in metallic GaAs

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Aug 24;109(8):086601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.086601. Epub 2012 Aug 21.

Abstract

We present nuclear spin relaxation measurements in GaAs epilayers using a new pump-probe technique in all-electrical, lateral spin-valve devices. The measured T(1) times agree very well with NMR data available for T>1 K. However, the nuclear spin relaxation rate clearly deviates from the well-established Korringa law expected in metallic samples and follows a sublinear temperature dependence T(1)(-1) is proportional to T(0.6) for 0.1 K≤T≤10 K. Further, we investigate nuclear spin inhomogeneities.