Pure spin-current diode based on interacting quantum dot tunneling junction

A magnetic field-controlled spin-current diode is theoretically proposed, which consists of a junction with an interacting quantum dot sandwiched between a pair of nonmagnetic electrodes. By applying a spin bias V_S across the junction, a pure spin current can be obtained in a certain gate voltage regime,regardless of whether the Coulomb repulsion energy exists. More interestingly, if we applied an external magnetic field on the quantum dot, we observed a clear asymmetry in the spectrum of spin current I_S as a function of spin bias, while the charge current always decays to zero in the Coulomb blockade regime. Such asymmetry in the current profile suggests a spin diode-like behavior with respect to the spin bias, while the net charge through the device is almost zero. Different from the traditional charge current diode, this design can change the polarity direction and rectifying ability by adjusting the external magnetic field, which is very convenient. This device scheme can be compatible with current technologies and has potential applications in spintronics or quantum processing.     

Quantum pump in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with a quantum dot driven by an ac field

With the help of the nonequilibrium Green's function method, the quantum pump in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer with a quantum dot driven by an ac field are studied theoretically. The ac field applied to the quantum dot may give rise to a pumped charge current at zero-bias voltage in the presence of a nonzero magnetic flux. The possibility of manipulating the pumped charge current is explored by tuning the dot level, the magnetic flux, the coupling strength and the ac field. By making use of various tunings, the magnitude and direction of the pumped charge current can be well controlled. Furthermore, the possibility to generate a pure spin current in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction has been discussed, which provides an idea for the design of a spin pump electrically.     

Coherent control of the spin current through a quantum dot

Within the weak-coupling regime the spin current through a quantum dot system is calculated using a quantum master equation approach which includes a sum over Matsubara terms. To be able to efficiently calculate, also at low temperatures, the time evolution of the reduced density matrix a high-temperature approximation was derived which proves to be rather accurate in comparison to the exact results. In the present model it is assumed that the energy levels of the dot are split by a constant magnetic field. An additional external (laser) field is used to control the currents of the two spin polarizations. This is either done using the phenomenon of coherent destruction of tunneling or optimal control theory. Scenarios are studied in which the spin current is reversed while the charge current is kept constant.     

Spin-dependent thermoelectric effect and spin battery mechanism in triple quantum dots with Rashba spin-orbital interaction

We have studied spin-dependent thermoelectric transport through parallel triple quantum dots with Rashba spinorbital interaction(RSOI) embedded in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometer connected symmetrically to leads using nonequilibrium Green's function method in the linear response regime.Under the appropriate configuration of magnetic flux phase and RSOI phase,the spin figure of merit can be enhanced and is even larger than the charge figure of merit.In particular,the charge and spin thermopowers as functions of both the magnetic flux phase and the RSOI phase present quadruple-peak structures in the contour graphs.For some specific configuration of the two phases,the device can provide a mechanism that converts heat into a spin voltage when the charge thermopower vanishes while the spin thermopower is not zero,which is useful in realizing the thermal spin battery and inducing a pure spin current in the device.     

Spin-flip Fano–Kondo resonant tunneling through a quantum dot interferometer responded by a rotating magnetic field

The Fano and Kondo cooperated resonant tunneling through a quantum dot interferometer under the perturbation of a rotating magnetic field is investigated theoretically. The spin-polarized current components have been derived generally by employing the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green?s function method, through which the charge and spin currents are determined directly. The numerical calculations on spin and charge currents are performed to show the compound features of mesoscopic transport associated with the Kondo, Fano, and Zeeman effects intimately. The induced spin current in the Kondo regime is much different from the one in the non-interacting regime. The spin current is tuned from resonant peak to valley by varying external parameters.     

Spin Pumping from a Quantum Dot in the Presence of Decoherence

We study the pumped spin current of an interacting quantum dot tunnel coupled to a single lead in the presence of electron spin resonance （ESR） field. The spin decoherence in the dot is included by the Bffttiker approach. Using the nonequilibrium Green＇s function technique, we show that ESR-induced spin flip can generate finite spin current with no charge transport. Both the Coulomb interaction and spin decoherence decrease the amplitude of spin current. The dependence of pumped spin current on the intensity and frequency of ESR field, and the spin decoherence is discussed.     

Spin-polarized current through a lateral double quantum dot with spin–orbit interaction

We study the spin-polarized current through a vertical double quantum dot scheme. Both the Rashba spin–orbit (RSO) interaction inside one of the quantum dots and the strong intradot Coulomb interactions on the two dots are taken into account by using the second-quantized form of the Hamiltonian. Due to the existence of the RSO interaction, spin-up and spin-down electrons couple to the external leads with different strengths, and then a spin polarized current can be driven out of the middle lead by controlling a set of structure parameters and the external bias voltage. Moreover, by properly adjusting the dot levels and the external bias voltages, a pure spin current with no accompanying charge current can be generated in the weak coupling regime. We show that the difference between the intradot Coulomb interactions strongly influences the spin-polarized currents flowing through the middle lead and is undesirable in the generation of the net spin current. Based on the RSO interaction, the structure we propose can efficiently polarize the electron spin without the usage of any magnetic field or ferromagnetic material. This device can be used as a spin-battery and is realizable using the present available technologies.     

Spin current through a quantum dot in the presence of an oscillating magnetic field

Nonequilibrium spin transport through an interacting quantum dot is analyzed. The coherent spin oscillations in the dot provide a generating source for spin current. In the interacting regime, the Kondo effect is influenced in a significant way by the presence of the processing magnetic field. In particular, when the precession frequency is tuned to resonance between spin-up and spin-down states of the dot, Kondo singularity for each spin splits into a superposition of two resonance peaks. The Kondo-type cotunneling contribution is manifested by a large enhancement of the pumped spin current in the strong coupling low temperature regime.     

相互作用量子点系统中的场致自旋电流

从理论上研究了相互作用量子点在外部旋转磁场下的非平衡自旋输运性质，研究结果表明，量子点中的相干自旋振荡可以导致自旋电流的产生，当计入库仑关联相互作用后，近藤共振效应受外部进动磁场的影响很强，特别是当磁场的进动频率与塞曼能移满足共振条件时，每个自旋近藤峰就会劈裂为两个自旋共振峰的叠加，在低温强耦合区，这种近藤型共隧穿过程对自旋电流带来重要贡献。     

Quantum spin and charge pumping through double quantum dots with ferromagnetic leads

The pumping of electrons through double quantum dots (DQDs) attached to ferromagnetic leads have been theoretically investigated by using the nonequilibrium Green?s function method. It is found that an oscillating electric field applied to the quantum dot may give rise to the pumped charge and spin currents. In the case that both leads are ferromagnet, a pure spin current can be generated in the antiparallel magnetization configuration, where no net charge current exists. The possibility of manipulating the pumped spin current is explored by tuning the dot level and the ac field. By making use of various tunings, the magnitude and direction of the pumped spin current can be well controlled. For the case that only one lead is ferromagnetic, both of the charge and spin currents can be pumped and flow in opposite directions on the average. The control of the magnitude and direction of the pumped charge and spin currents is also discussed by means of the magnetic flux threading through the DQD ring.     

Pumped spin-current and shot-noise spectra of a single quantum dot

We exploit the pumped spin-current and current noise spectra under equilibrium conditions in a single quantum dot connected to two normal leads as an electrical scheme for detection of the electron spin resonance (ESR) and decoherence. We propose spin-resolved quantum rate equations with correlation functions in Laplace space for the analytical derivation of the zero-frequency auto- and cross-shot noise spectra of charge and spin current. Our results show that in the strong Coulomb blockade regime, ESR-induced spin flip generates a finite spin current and quantum partition noises in the absence of net charge transport. Moreover, spin shot noise is closely related to the magnetic Rabi frequency and decoherence and would be a sensitive tool to measure them.     

Nonequilibrium spin transport through a diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dot system with noncollinear magnetization

The spin-dependent transport through a diluted magnetic semiconductor quantum dot (QD) which is coupled via magnetic tunnel junctions to two ferromagnetic leads is studied theoretically. A noncollinear system is considered, where the QD is magnetized at an arbitrary angle with respect to the leads’ magnetization. The tunneling current is calculated in the coherent regime via the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) formalism, incorporating the electron–electron interaction in the QD. We provide the first analytical solution for the Green’s function of the noncollinear DMS quantum dot system, solved via the equation of motion method under Hartree–Fock approximation. The transport characteristics (charge and spin currents, and tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR)) are evaluated for different voltage regimes. The interplay between spin-dependent tunneling and single-charge effects results in three distinct voltage regimes in the spin and charge current characteristics. The voltage range in which the QD is singly occupied corresponds to the maximum spin current and greatest sensitivity of the spin current to the QD magnetization orientation. The QD device also shows transport features suitable for sensor applications, i.e., a large charge current coupled with a high TMR ratio.     

Thermoelectric transport in the three terminal quantum dot

The thermoelectric transport in the system composed of a quantum dot in contact with superconducting, ferromagnetic and normal metal electrodes has been studied. Such a system can support pure spin current in the normal electrode. In the limit of a large superconducting gap and weak coupling between the dot and the electrodes we investigate the sub-gap charge and spin transport via Andreev mechanism using the standard master equation technique, which is known to be valid in the sequential tunnelling regime. The Zeeman splitting of the dot level induces pure spin current in the ferromagnetic electrode under an appropriate bias. This opens a novel possibility to switch the spin current between two electrodes by electric means. The calculated spin and charge thermopower coefficients attain very large values, of the order of a few hundreds μV K(-1), and show similar dependences on the position of the on-dot energy level and temperature.     

Equilibrium spin current induced by spin-orbital interaction in a quantum dot system

We report a theoretical study of the equilibrium spin current flowing in a quantum dot system. Two electrodes are the two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbital interaction. By using the Keldysh Green's function technique, we demonstrated that a nonzero spin current can flow in the system without bias. At the weak coupling between electrodes and the quantum dot, the spin current is approximately proportional to the cross product of two average pseudo-magnetizations in two electrodes, which agrees with the result of the linear response theory; whereas at the opposite case, the strong coupling between the quantum dot and electrodes can lead to a non-sinusoidal behavior of the equilibrium spin current. These behaviors of the equilibrium spin current are similar to the Josephson current.     

Nonadiabatic two-parameter charge and spin pumping in a quantum dot

We study dc charge and spin transport through a weakly coupled quantum dot, driven by a nonadiabatic periodic change of system parameters. We generalize the model of Tien and Gordon to simultaneously oscillating voltages and tunnel couplings. When applying our general result to the two-parameter charge pumping in quantum dots, we find interference effects between the oscillations of the voltage and tunnel couplings. We show that these interference effects may explain recent measurements in metallic islands. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility to electrically pump a spin current in presence of a static magnetic field.     

Transport through a quantum dot subject to spin and charge bias

Spin and charge transport through a quantum dot coupled to external nonmagnetic leads is analyzed theoretically in terms of the non-equilibrium Green function formalism based on the equation of motion method. The dot is assumed to be subject to spin and charge bias, and the considerations are focused on the Kondo effect in spin and charge transport. It is shown that the differential spin conductance as a function of spin bias reveals a typical zero-bias Kondo anomaly which becomes split when either magnetic field or charge bias are applied. Significantly different behavior is found for mixed charge/spin conductance. The influence of electron-phonon coupling in the dot on tunneling current as well as on both spin and charge conductance is also analyzed.     

Zeeman energy and spin relaxation in a one-electron quantum dot

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 micros 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.     

四端双量子点系统中的自旋和电荷能斯特效应

基于非平衡态格林函数方法,理论研究了与四个电极耦合的双量子点系统中的自旋和电荷能斯特效应,考虑了不同电极的磁动量结构和量子点内以及量子点间电子的库仑相互作用对热电效应的影响.结果表明铁磁端口中的磁化方向能够有效地调节能斯特效应:当电极1和电极3中的磁化方向反平行排列时,通过施加横向的温度梯度,系统中将会出现纯的自旋能斯特效应;当电极4从普通金属端口转变为铁磁金属端口时,将同时观测到电荷和自旋能斯特效应.研究发现,能斯特效应对于铁磁电极极化强度的依赖程度较弱,但对库仑排斥作用十分敏感.在量子点内和点间库仑排斥作用的影响下,自旋及电荷能斯特系数有望提高两个数量级.     

Triple quantum dots as charge rectifiers

We theoretically analyze electronic spin transport through a triple quantum dot in series, attached to electrical contacts, where the drain contact is coupled to the central dot. We show that current rectification is observed in the device due to current blockade. The current blocking mechanism is originated by a destructive interference of the electronic wavefunction at the drain dot. There, the electrons are coherently trapped in a singlet two-electron dark state, which is a coherent superposition of the electronic wavefunction in the source dot and in the dot isolated from the contacts. Its formation gives rise to zero current and current rectification as the voltage is swept. We analyze this behavior analytically and numerically for both zero and finite magnetic dc fields. On top of that, we include phenomenologically a finite spin relaxation rate and calculate the current numerically. Our results show that triple dots in series can be designed to behave as quantum charge rectifiers.     

Dynamic spin-polarized shot noise in a quantum dot coupled to ferromagnetic terminals under the perturbation of ac fields

We have investigated the shot noise in the mesoscopic system composed of a quantum dot (QD) coupled to ferromagnetic terminals under the perturbation of ac fields. The shot noise has been derived using the nonequilibrium Green's function (NGF) technique to describe the spin polarization effect along with photon absorption and emission processes in the Coulomb blockade regime. We have examined the influence of spin polarization on the shot noise under the perturbation of ac fields in the nonadiabatic regime. The Coulomb blockade effect results in the modification of shot noise compared with the noninteracting case. The spin orientation contributes a spin valve effect for controlling electron tunnelling through this QD, and different resonant forms appear around the Coulomb blockade channel. The photon-assisted spin-splitting and spin-polarization effect contributes a photon-assisted spin valve to adjust the electron tunnelling current and shot noise. The spin-polarization effect varies the value of the Fano factor. However, it does not change the noise type from sub-Poissonian to super-Poissonian.