Polarization of Nuclear Spins from the Conductance of Quantum Wire

Abstract

We devise an approach to measure the polarization of nuclear spins via conductance measurements. Specifically, we study the combined effect of external magnetic field, nuclear spin polarization, and Rashba spin-orbit interaction on the conductance of a quantum wire. Nonequilibrium nuclear spin polarization affects the electron energy spectrum making it time-dependent. Changes in the extremal points of the spectrum result in time-dependence of the conductance. The conductance oscillation pattern can be used to obtain information about the amplitude of the nuclear spin polarization and extract the characteristic time scales of the nuclear spin subsystem.