Multiquantum well spin oscillator

A dc voltage biased II-VI semiconductor multiquantum well structure attached to normal contacts exhibits self-sustained spin-polarized current oscillations if one or more of its wells are doped with Mn. Without magnetic impurities, the only configurations appearing in these structures are stationary. Analysis and numerical solution of a nonlinear spin transport model yield the minimal number of wells (four) and the ranges of doping density and spin splitting needed to find oscillations.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, shortened and updated versio

Temperature effects on microwave-induced resistivity oscillations and zero resistance states in 2D electron systems

In this work we address theoretically a key issue concerning microwave-induced longitudinal resistivity oscillations and zero resistance states, as is tempoerature. In order to explain the strong temperature dependence of the longitudinal resistivity and the thermally activated transport in 2DEG, we have developed a microscopic model based on the damping suffered by the microwave-driven electronic orbit dynamics by interactions with the lattice ions yielding acoustic phonons. Recent experimental results show a reduction in the amplitude of the longitudinal resistivity oscillations and a breakdown of zero resistance states as the radiation intensity increases. In order to explain it we have included in our model the electron heating due to large microwave intensities and its effect on the longitudinal resistivity.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figures. Accepted in Phys Rev

Magnetoswitching of current oscillations in diluted magnetic semiconductor nanostructures

Strongly nonlinear transport through Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor multiquantum wells occurs due to the interplay between confinement, Coulomb and exchange interaction. Nonlinear effects include the appearance of spin polarized stationary states and self-sustained current oscillations as possible stable states of the nanostructure, depending on its configuration and control parameters such as voltage bias and level splitting due to an external magnetic field. Oscillatory regions grow in size with well number and level splitting. A systematic analysis of the charge and spin response to voltage and magnetic field switching of II-VI Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor multiquantum wells is carried out. The description of stationary and time-periodic spin polarized states, the transitions between them and the responses to voltage or magnetic field switching have great importance due to the potential implementation of spintronic devices based on these nanostructures.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, Revtex, to appear in PR

Photoassisted sequential resonant tunneling through superlattices

We have analyzed theoretically the photoassisted tunneling current through a superlattice in the presence of an AC potential. For that purpose we have developed a new model to calculate the sequential resonant currrent trhough a superlattice based in the TRansfer Hamiltonian Method. The tunneling current presents new features due to new effective tunneling chanels coming from the photoside bands induced by the AC field. Our theoretical results are in good agreement with the available experimental evidence.Comment: Revtex 3.0 4 pages, 4 figures uuencoded compressed tar-fil

Effects of noise on hysteresis and resonance width in graphene and nanotubes resonators

We investigate the role that noise plays in the hysteretic dynamics of a suspended nanotube or a graphene sheet subject to an oscillating force. We find that not only the size but also the position of the hysteresis region in these systems can be controlled by noise. We also find that nano-resonators act as noise rectifiers: by increasing the noise in the setup, the resonance width of the characteristic peak in these systems is reduced and, as a result, the quality factor is increased.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Sent to PRB (in revision

Bipolar spin blockade and coherent state superpositions in a triple quantum dot

Spin qubits based on interacting spins in double quantum dots have been successfully demonstrated. Readout of the qubit state involves a conversion of spin to charge information, universally achieved by taking advantage of a spin blockade phenomenon resulting from Pauli's exclusion principle. The archetypal spin blockade transport signature in double quantum dots takes the form of a rectified current. Currently more complex spin qubit circuits including triple quantum dots are being developed. Here we show both experimentally and theoretically (a) that in a linear triple quantum dot circuit, the spin blockade becomes bipolar with current strongly suppressed in both bias directions and (b) that a new quantum coherent mechanism becomes relevant. Within this mechanism charge is transferred non-intuitively via coherent states from one end of the linear triple dot circuit to the other without involving the centre site. Our results have implications in future complex nano-spintronic circuits.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Canted phase in double quantum dots

We perform a Hartree-Fock calculation in order to describe the ground state of a vertical double quantum dot in the absence of magnetic fields parallel to the growth direction. Intra- and interdot exchange interactions determine the singlet or triplet character of the system as the tunneling is tuned. At finite Zeeman splittings due to in-plane magnetic fields, we observe the continuous quantum phase transition from ferromagnetic to symmetric phase through a canted antiferromagnetic state. The latter is obtained even at zero Zeeman energy for an odd electron number.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Spin correlations in spin blockade

We investigate spin currents and spin-current correlations for double quantum dots in the spin blockade regime. By analysing the time evolution of the density matrix, we obtain the spin resolved currents and derive from a generating function an expression for the fluctuations and correlations. Both the charge current and the spin current turn out to be generally super-Poissonian. Moreover, we study the influence of ac fields acting upon the transported electrons. In particular, we focus on fields that cause spin rotation or photon-assisted tunnelling.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Gain in quantum cascade lasers and superlattices: A quantum transport theory

Gain in current-driven semiconductor heterostructure devices is calculated within the theory of nonequilibrium Green functions. In order to treat the nonequilibrium distribution self-consistently the full two-time structure of the theory is employed without relying on any sort of Kadanoff-Baym Ansatz. The results are independent of the choice of the electromagnetic field if the variation of the self-energy is taken into account. Excellent quantitative agreement is obtained with the experimental gain spectrum of a quantum cascade laser. Calculations for semiconductor superlattices show that the simple 2-time miniband transport model gives reliable results for large miniband widths at room temperatureComment: 8 Pages, 4 Figures directly included, to appear in Physical Review