Cotunneling current through quantum dots with phonon-assisted spin-flip processes

Abstract

We consider cotunneling through a quantum dot in the presence of spin-flip processes induced by the coupling to acoustic phonons of the surrounding. An expression for the phonon-assisted cotunneling current is derived by means of a generalized Schrieffer-Wolff transformation. The influence of the spin-phonon coupling on the heating of the dot is considered. The result is evaluated for the case of a parabolic semiconductor quantum dot with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling and a method for the determination of the spin-phonon relaxation rate is proposed.