  We have measured the relaxation time, T1, of the spin of a single electron
confined in a semiconductor quantum dot (a proposed quantum bit). In a magnetic
field, applied parallel to the two-dimensional electron gas in which the
quantum dot is defined, Zeeman splitting of the orbital states is directly
observed by measurements of electron transport through the dot. By applying
short voltage pulses, we can populate the excited spin state with one electron
and monitor relaxation of the spin. We find a lower bound on T1 of 50
microseconds at 7.5 T, only limited by our signal-to-noise ratio. A continuous
measurement of the charge on the dot has no observable effect on the spin
relaxation.
