Revealing the internal spin dynamics in a double quantum dot by periodic voltage modulation

Abstract

The paper proposes the method to analyze the internal dynamics of nanoscopic systems by periodic modulation of the electrochemical potentials of the attached leads and measuring the time-averaged current. The idea is presented using the example of the a double quantum dot coupled to one nonmagnetic and one spin-polarized lead. The current flowing through the molecule is shown to depend on both the frequency of the modulation and the exchange coupling between the electrons occupying the molecule. In particular, one can observe a pronounced oscillatory behavior of the current-frequency dependence, which reveals the coherent oscillations between the spin states of the system.

10 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B