Fourth-order spin correlation function in the extended central spin model

Abstract

Spin-noise spectroscopy has developed into a very powerful tool to access the electron spin dynamics. While the spin-noise power spectrum in an ensemble of quantum dots in a magnetic field is essentially understood, we argue that the investigation of the higher-order cumulants promises to provide additional information not accessible by the conventional power-noise spectrum. We present a quantum-mechanical approach to the correlation function of the spin-noise power operators at two different frequencies for small spin bath sizes and compare the results with a simulation obtained from the classical spin dynamics for large number of nuclear spins. This bispectrum is defined as a two-dimensional frequency cut in the parameter space of the fourth-order spin correlation function. It reveals information on the influence of the nuclear-electric quadrupolar interactions on the long-time electron spin dynamics dominated by a magnetic field. For large bath sizes and spin lengths the quantum-mechanical spectra converge to those of the classical simulations. The broadening of the bispectrum across the diagonal in the frequency space is a direct measure of the quadrupolar interaction strength. A narrowing is found with increasing magnetic field indicating a suppression of the influence of quadrupolar interactions in favor of the nuclear Zeeman effect.