Spin decoherence due to a randomly fluctuating spin bath

Abstract: We study the decoherence of a spin in a quantum dot due to its hyperfine coupling to a randomly fluctuating bath of nuclear spins. The system is modelled by the central spin model with the spin bath initially being at infinite temperature. We calculate the spectrum and time evolution of the coherence factor using a Monte Carlo sampling of the exact eigenstates obtained via the algebraic Bethe ansatz. The exactness of the obtained eigenstates allows us to study the non-perturbative regime of weak magnetic fields in a full quantum mechanical treatment. In particular, we find a large non-decaying fraction in the zero-field limit. The crossover from strong to weak fields is similar to the decoherence starting from a pure initial bath state treated previously. We compare our results to a simple semiclassical picture [Merkulov et al., Phys. Rev. B 65, 205309 (2002)] and find surprisingly good agreement. Finally, we discuss the effect of weakly coupled spins and show that they will eventually lead to complete decoherence.