Detection of spin injection into a double quantum dot: Violation of magnetic-field-inversion symmetry of nuclear polarization instabilities

Abstract

In mesoscopic systems with spin-orbit coupling, spin-injection into quantum dots at zero magnetic field is expected under a wide range of conditions. However, up to now, a viable approach for experimentally identifying such injection has been lacking. We show that electron spin injection into a spin-blockaded double quantum dot is dramatically manifested in the breaking of magnetic- field-inversion symmetry of nuclear polarization instabilities. Over a wide range of parameters, the asymmetry between positive and negative instability fields is extremely sensitive to the injected electron spin polarization and allows for the detection of even very weak spin injection. This phenomenon may be used to investigate the mechanisms of spin transport, and may hold implications for spin-based information processing.

References in corpus (6)

• Suppression of spin relaxation in an InAs nanowire double quantum dot
• Spin polarized current generation from quantum dots without magnetic fields
• Spin-polarized electric currents in quantum transport through tubular two-dimensional electron gases
• Nuclear Polarization in Quantum Point Contacts in an In-Plane Magnetic Field
• Spin-current quantization in a quantum point contact with spin-orbit interaction
• Dynamic nuclear polarisation in biased quantum wires with spin-orbit interaction

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Sensing Kondo correlations in a suspended carbon nanotube mechanical resonator with spin-orbit coupling
• Suppression of Zeeman gradients by nuclear polarization in double quantum dots
• Self-sustaining dynamical nuclear polarization oscillations in quantum dots
• Temperature-dependent dynamical nuclear polarization bistabilities in double quantum dots in the spin-blockade regime