Shot noise spectroscopy of electronic spin flips in quantum dots

Journal article, 2007

Spin decoherence and spin flips crucially affect the tunneling transport of spin-polarized electrons through a quantum dot connected to magnetic leads. Here, the authors show that the low-frequency shot noise in such structures diverges as the spin relaxation rate for electrons on the dot goes to zero, reaching giant super-Poissonian values for realistic spin-flip rates. It is also shown that combined measurements of the average current and the shot noise as a function of bias voltage and external magnetic field offer a spectroscopic tool for studying electronic spin relaxation rates in this system.