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.
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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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