| We present results on spin relaxation in non-magnetic metallic hosts due to impurity-induced, elastic spin-flip scattering. Spin-orbit coupling in the host as well as on the impurity is taken into account. Our emphasis is on 3d,4d,5d, 4sp, 5sp and 6sp impurities in Cu and Au. We find that the spin relaxation time scales with the spin-orbit coupling strength of the impurity and of the host. What is most critical, however, is the presence of resonant scattering channels at the impurity, which can enhance the relaxation rate by orders of magnitude. Our calculations are based on density-functional theory and on the multiple scattering ansatz, employing the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green-function method. |
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