Shot noise of spin polarized electrons

The shot noise of spin polarized electrons is shown to be generically dependent upon spin-flip processes. Such a situation represents perhaps the simplest instance where the two-particle character of current fluctuations out of equilibrium is explicit, leading to trinomial statistics of charge transfer in a single channel model. We calculate the effect of spin-orbit coupling, magnetic impurities, and precession in an external magnetic field on the noise in the experimentally relevant cases of diffusive wires and lateral semiconductor dots, finding dramatic enhancements of the Fano factor. The possibility of using the shot noise to measure the spin-relaxation time in an open mesoscopic system is raised.Comment: Published version. Minor clarifications and correction

Conductance Peak Height Correlations for a Coulomb-Blockaded Quantum Dot in a Weak Magnetic Field

We consider statistical correlations between the heights of conductance peaks corresponding to two different levels in a Coulomb-blockaded quantum dot. Correlations exist for two peaks at the same magnetic field if the field does not fully break time-reversal symmetry as well as for peaks at different values of a magnetic field that fully breaks time-reversal symmetry. Our results are also relevant to Coulomb-blockade conductance peak height statistics in the presence of weak spin-orbit coupling in a chaotic quantum dot.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX 4, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Single, double, and triple quantum dots in Ge/Si nanowires

We report highly tunable control of holes in Ge/Si core/shell nanowires. We demonstrate the ability to create single quantum dots of various sizes, with low hole occupation numbers and clearly observable excited states. For the smallest dot size, we observe indications of single-hole occupation. Moreover, we create double and triple tunnel-coupled quantum dot arrays. In the double quantum dot configuration, we observe Pauli spin blockade. These results open the way to perform hole spin qubit experiments in these devices