Correlation-induced resonances and population switching in a quantum dot coulomb valley

Strong correlation effects on electron transport through a spinless quantum dot are considered. When two single-particle levels in the quantum dot are degenerate, a conserved pseudospin degree of freedom appears for general tunneling matrix elements between the quantum dot and leads. Local fluctuations of the pseudospin in the quantum dot give rise to a pair of asymmetric conductance peaks near the center of a Coulomb valley. An exact relation to the population switching is provided.Comment: Fig. 4 and some technical details removed. To appear in PR

Effect of ferromagnetic contacts on spin accumulation in an all-metallic lateral spin-valve system: Semiclassical spin drift-diffusion equations

We study the effect of the ferromagnetic (FM) contacts on the spin accumulation in the lateral spin valve system for the collinear magnetization configurations. When an additional FM electrode is introduced in the all-metallic lateral spin-valve system, we find that the transresistance can be fractionally suppressed or very weakly influenced depending on the position of the additional FM electrode, and relative magnitudes of contact resistance and the bulk resistance defined over the spin diffusion length. Nonlocal spin signals such as nonlocal voltage drop and leakage spin currents are independent of the magnetization orientation of the additional FM electrode. Even when the additional contact is nonmagnetic, nonlocal spin signals can be changed by the spin current leaking into the nonmagnetic electrode.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, revised versio

Spin polarization amplification within nonmagnetic semiconductors at room temperature

We demonstrate theoretically that the spin polarization of current can be electrically amplified within nonmagnetic semiconductors by exploiting the fact the spin current, compared to the charge current, is weakly perturbed by electric driving forces. As a specific example, we consider a T-shaped current branching geometry made entirely of a nonmagnetic semiconductor, where the current is injected into one of the branches (input branch) and splits into the other two branches (output branches). We show that when the input current has a moderate spin polarization, the spin polarization in one of the output branches can be higher than the spin polarization in the input branch and may reach 100% when the relative magnitudes of current-driving electric fields in the two output branches are properly tuned. The proposed amplification scheme does not use ferromagnets or magnetic fields, and does not require low temperature operation, providing an efficient way to generate a highly spin polarized current in nonmagnetic semiconductors at room temperature.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.