Shot noise of spin polarized electrons

TL;DR

This paper investigates how spin-flip processes influence shot noise in spin-polarized electrons, revealing that such noise exhibits trinomial charge transfer statistics and can be used to measure spin-relaxation times.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for understanding shot noise dependence on spin-flip processes and explores its potential for measuring spin relaxation in mesoscopic systems.

Findings

Spin-flip processes cause significant changes in shot noise.

Spin-orbit coupling and magnetic impurities enhance the Fano factor.

Shot noise can be used to measure spin-relaxation times.

Abstract

The shot noise of spin polarized electrons is shown to be generically dependent upon spin-flip processes. Such a situation represents perhaps the simplest instance where the two-particle character of current fluctuations out of equilibrium is explicit, leading to trinomial statistics of charge transfer in a single channel model. We calculate the effect of spin-orbit coupling, magnetic impurities, and precession in an external magnetic field on the noise in the experimentally relevant cases of diffusive wires and lateral semiconductor dots, finding dramatic enhancements of the Fano factor. The possibility of using the shot noise to measure the spin-relaxation time in an open mesoscopic system is raised.