  We investigate the electron spin relaxation of $n$-type InAs quantum wires by
numerically solving the fully microscopic kinetic spin Bloch equations with the
relevant scattering explicitly included. We find that the quantum-wire size and
the growth direction influence the spin relaxation time by modulating the
spin-orbit coupling. Due to inter-subband scattering in connection with the
spin-orbit interaction, spin-relaxation in quantum wires can show different
characteristics from those in bulk or quantum wells and can be effectively
manipulated by various means.
