Carrier spin relaxation in undoped GaAs double quantum wells

Carrier spin relaxation in undoped GaAs/AlGaAs asymmetric double quantum wells (QWs) at room temperature was studied by spin-dependent pump and probe reflection measurements. The electron tunneling, which occurs between the two lowest conduction bands in the narrow and wide QWs, has a negligible effect on the electron spin relaxation. The most striking feature is that a long hole spin relaxation time was directly observed in the case of fast electron tunneling while it was not observed in the case of relatively slow electron tunneling. The hole that remains in the QWs due to the escape of the electron tunneling out makes the direct observation of hole spin relaxation possible. The measured hole spin relaxation time varies from 107 ps to 80 ps when the excitation power changes from 10 mW to 40 mW. This study provides direct experimental evidence of the important effect of the interaction between electrons and holes on the hole spin relaxation.