  We have studied the electron spin coherence in an ensemble of positively
charged InAs/GaAs quantum dots. In a transverse magnetic field, we show that
two main contributions must be taken into account to explain the damping of the
circular polarization oscillations. The first one is due to the nuclear field
fluctuations from dot to dot experienced by the electron spin. The second one
is due to the dispersion of the transverse electron Lande g-factor, due to the
inherent inhomogeneity of the system, and leads to a field dependent
contribution to the damping. We have developed a model taking into account both
contributions, which is in good agreement with the experimental data. This
enables us to extract the pure contribution to dephasing due to the nuclei.

Materials Science;Other Condensed Matter