In this thesis the relaxation dynamics of single electron and hole spins in self-assembled quantum dots were investigated by employing all optical techniques for spin initialization and readout. In ensembles, extremely long spin relaxation times have been found with a lower limit of 20 ms (T=1 K, B= 4T) in the case of electrons and 270 µs (T=8 K, B=1.5 T) for holes. The characteristic magnetic field and temperature dependence allowed the identification of the spin relaxation mechanism. Spin relaxation in quantum dots is governed by spin-orbit coupling and mediated by acoustic phonons. In addition, a new technique was developed allowing spin initialization, storage and detection in a single quantum dot. As a first demonstration the spin relaxation of electrons was measured as a function of temperature at a magnetic field of 12 T. In the future, this technique could promote the investigation of spin coherence in single quantum dots.
«In this thesis the relaxation dynamics of single electron and hole spins in self-assembled quantum dots were investigated by employing all optical techniques for spin initialization and readout. In ensembles, extremely long spin relaxation times have been found with a lower limit of 20 ms (T=1 K, B= 4T) in the case of electrons and 270 µs (T=8 K, B=1.5 T) for holes. The characteristic magnetic field and temperature dependence allowed the identification of the spin relaxation mechanism. Spin rel...
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