Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation near metal-insulator transition and in hopping transport

B. I. Shklovskii

Published 2006-02-08, updated 2006-04-04Version 3

In a heavily doped semiconductor with weak spin-orbital interaction the Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation rate is known to be proportional to the Drude conductivity. We argue that in the case of weak spin-orbital interaction this proportionality goes beyond the Drude mechanism: it stays valid through the metal-insulator transition and in the range of the exponentially small hopping conductivity.