We measure singlet-triplet dephasing in a two-electron double quantum dot in the presence of an exchange interaction which can be electrically tuned from much smaller to much larger than the hyperfine energy. Saturation of dephasing and damped oscillations of the spin correlator as a function of time are observed when the two interaction strengths are comparable. Both features of the data are compared with predictions from a quasistatic model of the hyperfine field.
Coherent two-level systems, or qubits, based on electron spins in GaAs quantum dots are strongly coupled to the nuclear spins of the host lattice via the hyperfine interaction. Realizing nuclear spin control would likely improve electron spin coherence and potentially enable the nuclear environment to be harnessed for the long-term storage of quantum information. Toward this goal, we report experimental control of the relaxation of nuclear spin polarization in a gate-defined two-electron GaAs double quantum dot. A cyclic gate-pulse sequence transfers the spin of an electron pair to the host nuclear system, establishing a local nuclear polarization that relaxes on a time scale of seconds. We find nuclear relaxation depends on magnetic field and gate-controlled two-electron exchange, consistent with a model of electron mediated nuclear spin diffusion.
The two-electron exchange coupling in a nanowire double quantum dot (DQD) is shown to possess Moriyas anisotropic superexchange interaction under the influence of both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings (SOCs) and a Zeeman field. We reveal the controllability of the anisotropic exchange interaction via tuning the SOC and the direction of the external magnetic field. The exchange interaction can be transformed into an isotropic Heisenberg interaction, but the uniform magnetic field becomes an effective inhomogeneous field whose measurable inhomogeneity reflects the SOC strength. Moreover, the presence of the effective inhomogeneous field gives rise to an energy-level anticrossing in the low-energy spectrum of the DQD. By fitting the analytical expression for the energy gap to the experimental spectroscopic detections [S. Nadj-Perge et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 166801 (2012)], we obtain the complete features of the SOC in an InSb nanowire DQD.
The spin-flip tunneling rates are measured in GaAs-based double quantum dots by time-resolved charge detection. Such processes occur in the Pauli spin blockade regime with two electrons occupying the double quantum dot. Ways are presented for tuning the spin-flip tunneling rate, which on the one hand gives access to measuring the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin--orbit coefficents. On the other hand they make it possible to turn on and off the effect of SOI with a high on/off-ratio. The tuning is accomplished by choosing the alignment of the tunneling direction with respect to the crystallographic axes, as well as by choosing the orientation of the external magnetic field with respect to the spin--orbit magnetic field. Spin-lifetimes of 10 s are achieved at a tunnel rate close to 1 kHz.
Tunneling conductance through two quantum dots, which are connected in series to left and right leads, is calculated by using the numerical renormalization group method. As the hopping between the dots increases from very small value, the following states continuously appear; (i) Kondo singlet state of each dot with its adjacent-site lead, (ii) singlet state between the local spins on the dots, and (iii) double occupancy in the bonding orbital of the two dots. The conductance shows peaks at the transition regions between these states. Especially, the peak at the boundary between (i) and (ii) has the unitarity limit value of $2e^{2}/h$ because of coherent connection through the lead-dot-dot-lead. For the strongly correlated cases, the characteristic energy scale of the coherent peak shows anomalous decrease relating to the quantum critical transition known for the two-impurity Kondo effect. The two dots systems give the new realization of the two-impurity Kondo problem.
By operating a one-electron quantum dot (fabricated between a multielectron dot and a one-electron reference dot) as a spectroscopic probe, we study the spin properties of a gate-controlled multielectron GaAs quantum dot at the transition between odd and even occupation number. We observe that the multielectron groundstate transitions from spin-1/2-like to singlet-like to triplet-like as we increase the detuning towards the next higher charge state. The sign reversal in the inferred exchange energy persists at zero magnetic field, and the exchange strength is tunable by gate voltages and in-plane magnetic fields. Complementing spin leakage spectroscopy data, the inspection of coherent multielectron spin exchange oscillations provides further evidence for the sign reversal and, inferentially, for the importance of non-trivial multielectron spin exchange correlations.