Spin and polarized current from Coulomb blockaded quantum dots

We report measurements of spin transitions for GaAs quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime and compare ground and excited state transport spectroscopy to direct measurements of the spin polarization of emitted current. Transport spectroscopy reveals both spin-increasing and spin-decreasing transitions, as well as higher-spin ground states, and allows g factors to be measured down to a single electron. The spin of emitted current in the Coulomb blockade regime, measured using spin-sensitive electron focusing, is found to be polarized along the direction of the applied magnetic field regardless of the ground state spin transition.     

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.     

Spin fractionalization of an even number of electrons in a quantum Dot

We find that Kondo resonant conductance can occur in a quantum dot in the Coulomb blockade regime with an even number of electrons N. The contacts are attached to the dot in a pillar configuration, and a magnetic field B( perpendicular) along the axis is applied. B( perpendicular) lifts the spin degeneracy of the dot energies. Usually, this prevents the system from developing the Kondo effect. Tuning B( perpendicular) to the value B(*) where levels with different total spin cross restores both the degeneracy and the Kondo effect. We analyze a dot charged with N = 2 electrons. Coupling to the contacts is antiferromagnetic due to a spin selection rule and, in the Kondo state, the charge is unchanged while the total spin on the dot is S = 1/2.     

Observation of peak splitting in the Coulomb blockade regime of a carbon nanotube rope

Electronic transport measurements have been carried out on a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCN) rope contacted to a 4-probe Au/Pd electrode in the Coulomb blockade regime. With varying substrate backgate voltage, the observed Coulomb blockade peaks exhibit interesting three-way splitting. We find that this peak splitting can be attributed to a contribution from resonant tunnelling through discrete energy levels of a finite length metallic SWCN within the rope. We also consider the role that interactions between `quantum dot' (Q-dot) regions within the rope can play in causing the peak splitting.     

Spin accumulation and cotunneling effects in ferromagnetic single-electron transistors

Electron tunneling through small metallic particles (islands) coupled to two ferromagnetic electrodes is studied theoretically in the Coulomb blockade regime, where higher order tunneling processes play a significant role. Transport characteristics of the system are analyzed by the real-time diagrammatic technique. It is shown that the spin splitting of the electrochemical potential due to spin accumulation on the island should be detectable from the spacing between two resonances in the current–voltage characteristics.     

Berry-phase blockade in single-molecule magnets

We formulate the problem of electron transport through a single-molecule magnet (SMM) in the Coulomb blockade regime taking into account topological interference effects for the tunneling of the large spin of a SMM. The interference originates from spin Berry phases associated with different tunneling paths. We show that, in the case of incoherent spin states, it is essential to place the SMM between oppositely spin-polarized source and drain leads in order to detect the spin tunneling in the stationary current, which exhibits topological zeros as a function of the transverse magnetic field.     

Conductance of a quantum wire in the Wigner-crystal regime

We study the effect of Coulomb interactions on the conductance of a single-mode quantum wire connecting two bulk leads. When the density of electrons in the wire is very low, they arrange in a finite-length Wigner crystal. In this regime the electron spins form an antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain with an exponentially small coupling J. An electric current in the wire perturbs the spin chain and gives rise to a temperature-dependent contribution of the spin subsystem to the resistance. At low temperature TJ the spin effect reduces the conductance to e2/h.     

ac-Driven double quantum dots as spin pumps and spin filters

We propose and analyze a new scheme of realizing both spin filtering and spin pumping by using ac-driven double quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade regime. By calculating the current through the system in the sequential tunneling regime, we demonstrate that the spin polarization of the current can be controlled by tuning the parameters (amplitude and frequency) of the ac field. We also discuss spin relaxation and decoherence effects in the pumped current.     

Superconducting instability in the large-U limit of the two-dimensional Hubbard model

We have investigated numerically the pairing instabilities of Gutzwiller wavefunctions. These are equivalent to a certain form of the resonant valence bond wavefunction. The case considered is a nearly half-filled two dimensional band with interactions given by a Hubbard model with large on-site Coulomb interactions. We find that the paramagnetic normal state is unstable tod-wave pairing but stable againsts-wave pairing. The antiferromagnetic state is marginally stable against both types of pairing. These results can be explained as an interference effect resulting in enhanced antiferromagnetic spin correlation in the paired state.     

Detection of single spin decoherence in a quantum dot via charge currents

We consider a quantum dot attached to leads in the Coulomb blockade regime that has a spin 1 / 2 ground state. We show that, by applying an ESR field to the dot spin, the stationary current in the sequential tunneling regime exhibits a new resonance peak whose linewidth is determined by the single spin decoherence time T2. The Rabi oscillations of the dot spin are shown to induce coherent current oscillations from which T2 can be deduced in the time domain. We describe a spin inverter which can be used to pump current through a double dot via spin flips generated by ESR.     

Mesoscopic Josephson effect

In the classical Josephson effect the phase difference across the junction is well defined, and the supercurrent is reduced only weakly by phase diffusion. For mesoscopic junctions with small capacitance the phase undergoes large quantum fluctuations, and the current is also decreased by Coulomb blockade effects. We discuss the behavior of the current–voltage characteristics in a large range of parameters comprising the phase diffusion regime with coherent Josephson current as well as the supercurrent peak due to incoherent Cooper pair tunneling in the Coulomb blockade regime.     

Transconductance of a double quantum dot system in the Kondo regime

We consider a lateral double-dot system in the Coulomb blockade regime with a single spin-1/2 on each dot, mutually coupled by an antiferromagnetic exchange interaction. Each of the two dots is contacted by two leads. We demonstrate that the voltage across one of the dots will have a profound influence on the current passing through the other dot. Using poor man's scaling, we find that the Kondo effect can lead to a strong enhancement of this transconductance.     

Coulomb blockade and hopping conduction in PbSe quantum dots

We report for the first time on rich and tunable transport phenomena in closed-packed arrays of PbSe colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) in the form of thin films. As the interdot coupling is increased, the system evolves from an insulating regime dominated by Coulomb blockade to a semiconducting regime, where hopping conduction is the dominant transport mechanism. The observed phenomena can be interpreted using the framework established mainly in the context of transport measurements in metallic quantum dots and disordered semiconductors.     

Observation of hysteretic transport due to dynamic nuclear spin polarization in a GaAs lateral double quantum dot

We report a new transport feature in a GaAs lateral double quantum dot that emerges for magnetic-field sweeps and shows hysteresis due to dynamic nuclear spin polarization (DNP). This DNP signal appears in the Coulomb blockade regime by virtue of the finite interdot tunnel coupling and originates from the crossing between ground levels of the spin triplet and singlet extensively used for nuclear spin manipulations in pulsed-gate experiments. The magnetic-field dependence of the current level is suggestive of unbalanced DNP between the two dots, which opens up the possibility of controlling electron and nuclear spin states via dc transport.     

Signatures of spin pairing in chaotic quantum dots

Coulomb blockade resonances are measured in a GaAs quantum dot in which both shape deformations and interactions are small. The parametric evolution of the Coulomb blockade peaks shows a pronounced pair correlation in both position and amplitude, which is interpreted as spin pairing. As a consequence, the nearest-neighbor distribution of peak spacings can be well approximated by a modified bimodal Wigner surmise, in which interactions are taken into account beyond the constant interaction model.     

Heavy fermion materials

The heavy-fermion ground state occurs in a few select metallic compounds as a result of interactions between felectron and conduction-electron spins. A characteristically large electronic heat capacity at low temperature indicates that the effective electron mass of these materials is more than two orders of magnitude greater than that expected for a free-electron metal. This heavy-fermion ground state can become superconducting or antiferromagnetic, exhibiting very unusual properties. We will briefly discuss these materials, and the role of muon spin rotation in their study.     

Cotunneling mechanism of single-electron shuttling

The problem of electron transport by means of a dumbbell shaped shuttle in strong Coulomb blockade regime is solved. The electrons may be shuttled only in the cotunneling regime during the time spans when both shoulders of the shuttle approach the metallic banks. The conventional Anderson-like tunneling model is generalized for this case and the tunneling conductance is calculated in the adiabatic regime of slow motion of the shuttle. Non-adiabatic corrections are briefly discussed     

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.     

Reduced effective spin-orbital degeneracy and spin-orbital ordering in paramagnetic transition-metal oxides: Sr2IrO4 versus Sr2RhO4

We discuss the notions of spin-orbital polarization and ordering in paramagnetic materials, and address their consequences in transition-metal oxides. Extending the combined density functional and dynamical mean field theory scheme to the case of materials with large spin-orbit interactions, we investigate the electronic excitations of the paramagnetic phases of Sr(2)IrO(4) and Sr(2)RhO(4). We show that the interplay of spin-orbit interactions, structural distortions and Coulomb interactions suppresses spin-orbital fluctuations. As a result, the room temperature phase of Sr(2)IrO(4) is a paramagnetic spin-orbitally ordered Mott insulator. In Sr(2)RhO(4), the effective spin-orbital degeneracy is reduced, but the material remains metallic, due to both, smaller spin-orbit and smaller Coulomb interactions. The corresponding spectra are in excellent agreement with photoemission data. Finally, we make predictions for the spectra of paramagnetic Sr(2)IrO(4).     

Artificial Haldane gap material on a semiconductor chip

We show how nanostructuring of a metallic gate of a field-effect transistor (FET) converts the electron channel of an FET to an artificial Haldane chain with a gap in the energy spectrum. A specially designed gate structure creates a chain of triple quantum dot molecules. The electrons localized in the molecules realize a spin-half Heisenberg chain with spin–spin interactions alternating between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic. The quantum state of an FET is a semiconductor implementation of an integer spin-one antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain with a unique correlated ground state and a finite energy gap, originally conjectured by Haldane.