Spin blockade with spin singlet electrons

Abstract

We observe a singlet spin blockade (SSB) in two-electron vertical double quantum dots where the single-electron transport is blocked for spin singlet electrons. In contrast to the conventional Pauli spin blockade with spin triplet electrons, this singlet spin blockade is observed under high magnetic field, where the doubly occupied states in one of the dots go beyond the singlet-triplet ground-state transition. The SSB region in Coulomb diamond measurements is in agreement with the two-electron excitation spectrum. A leakage current of 10 pA order is observed in SSB, consistent with the spin singlet lifetime due to random nuclear spin fluctuations. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4773304]