Vanishing current hysteresis under competing nuclear spin pumping processes in a quadruplet spin-blockaded double quantum dot

Abstract

We investigate nuclear spin pumping with five-electron quadruplet spin states in a spin-blockaded weakly coupled vertical double quantum dot device. Two types of hysteretic steps in the leakage current are observed on sweeping the magnetic field and are associated with bidirectional polarization of nuclear spin. Properties of the steps are understood in terms of bias-voltage-dependent conditions for the mixing of quadruplet and doublet spin states by the hyperfine interaction. The hysteretic steps vanish when up- and down-nuclear spin pumping processes are in close competition.