Theory of electronic properties and quantum spin blockade in a gated linear triple quantum dot with one electron spin each

Abstract: We present a theory of electronic properties and the spin blockade phenomena in a gated linear triple quantum dot. Quadruple points where four different charge configurations are on resonance, particularly involving (1,1,1) configuration, are considered. In the symmetric case, the central dot is biased to higher energy and a single electron tunnels through the device when (1,1,1) configuration is resonant with (1,0,1),(2,0,1),(1,0,2) configurations. The electronic properties of a triple quantum dot are described by a Hubbard model containing two orbitals in the two unbiased dots and a single orbital in the biased dot. The transport through the triple quantum dot molecule involves both singly and doubly occupied configurations and necessitates the description of the (1,1,1) configuration beyond the Heisenberg model. Exact eigenstates of the triple quantum dot molecule with up to three electrons are used to compute current assuming weak coupling to the leads and non-equilibrium occupation of quantum molecule states obtained from the rate equation. The intra-molecular relaxation processes due to acoustic phonons and cotunneling with the leads are included, and are shown to play a crucial role in the spin blockade effect. We find a quantum interference-based spin blockade phenomenon at low source-drain bias and a distinct spin blockade due to a trap state at higher bias. We also show that, for an asymmetric quadruple point with (0,1,1),(1,1,1,),(0,2,1),(0,1,2) configurations on resonance, the spin blockade is analogous to the spin blockade in a double quantum dot.