Competing interactions in semiconductor quantum dots

We introduce an integrability-based method enabling the study of semiconductor quantum dot models incorporating both the full hyperfine interaction as well as a mean-field treatment of dipole-dipole interactions in the nuclear spin bath. By performing free-induction decay and spin-echo simulations we characterize the combined effect of both types of interactions on the decoherence of the electron spin, for external fields ranging from low to high values. We show that for spin-echo simulations the hyperfine interaction is the dominant source of decoherence at short times for low fields, and competes with the dipole-dipole interactions at longer times. On the contrary, at high fields the main source of decay is due to the dipole-dipole interactions. In the latter regime an asymmetry in the echo is observed. Furthermore, the nondecaying fraction previously observed for zero-field free-induction decay simulations in quantum dots with only hyperfine interactions, is destroyed for longer times by the mean-field treatment of the dipolar interactions.