In silicon quantum dots (QDs), at a certain magnetic field commonly referred to as the "hot spot", the electron spin relaxation rate (T_1^(-1)) can be drastically enhanced due to strong spin-valley mixing. Here, we experimentally find that with a valley splitting of 78.2 ${ \pm}$ 1.6 ${ \mu}$eV, this hot spot in spin relaxation can be suppressed by more than 2 orders of magnitude when the in-plane magnetic field is oriented at an optimal angle, about 9{ \deg} from the [100] sample plane. This directional anisotropy exhibits a sinusoidal modulation with a 180{ \deg} periodicity. We explain the magnitude and phase of this modulation using a model that accounts for both spin-valley mixing and intravalley spin-orbit mixing. The generality of this phenomenon is also confirmed by tuning the electric field and the valley splitting up to 268.2 ${ \pm}$ 0.7 ${ \mu}$eV.
Categories: cond-mat.mes-hall quant-ph