Dipole-like dynamical nuclear spin polarization around a quantum point contact

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the dynamical nuclear spin polarization in a quantum point contact (QPC) at finite magnetic field. We find that when the QPC is tuned to be spin selective, at the conductance of e^2/h, a finite bias induces a dipole-like (spatially anti-symmetric) nuclear polarization: at the QPC center the polarization is zero, while, for GaAs parameters, the nuclear spins down (up) are induced on the source (drain) side. We predict that the dipole-like polarization pattern can be distinguished from a uniform polarization due to a qualitatively different response of the QPC conductance to the NMR field.

17 pages, 8 figures; referees' comments incorporated, some typos corrected, footnotes' format changed