Three-Carrier Spin Blockade and Coupling in Bilayer Graphene Double Quantum Dots.

The spin degrees of freedom is crucial for the understanding of any condensed matter system. Knowledge of spin-mixing mechanisms is not only essential for successful control and manipulation of spin qubits, but also uncovers fundamental properties of investigated devices and material. For electrostatically defined bilayer graphene quantum dots, in which recent studies report spin-relaxation times T_{1} up to 50 ms with strong magnetic field dependence, we study spin-blockade phenomena at charge configuration (1,2)↔(0,3). We examine the dependence of the spin-blockade leakage current on interdot tunnel coupling and on the magnitude and orientation of externally applied magnetic field. In out-of-plane magnetic field, the observed zero-field current peak could arise from finite-temperature cotunneling with the leads; though involvement of additional spin- and valley-mixing mechanisms are necessary for explaining the persistent sharp side peaks observed. In in-plane magnetic field, we observe a zero-field current dip, attributed to the competition between the spin Zeeman effect and the Kane-Mele spin-orbit interaction. Details of the line shape of this current dip, however, suggest additional underlying mechanisms are at play.

Electric Dipole Coupling of a Bilayer Graphene Quantum Dot to a High-Impedance Microwave Resonator.

We implement circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) with quantum dots in bilayer graphene, a maturing material platform that can host long-lived spin and valley states. Our device combines a high-impedance (Zr ≈ 1 kΩ) superconducting microwave resonator with a double quantum dot electrostatically defined in a graphene-based van der Waals heterostructure. Electric dipole coupling between the subsystems allows the resonator to sense the electric susceptibility of the double quantum dot from which we reconstruct its charge stability diagram. We achieve sensitive and fast detection of the interdot transition with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3.5 within 1 µs integration time. The charge-photon interaction is quantified in the dispersive and resonant regimes by comparing the resonator response to input-output theory, yielding a coupling strength of g/2π = 49.7 MHz. Our results introduce cQED as a probe for quantum dots in van der Waals materials and indicate a path toward coherent charge-photon coupling with bilayer graphene quantum dots.

Pauli Blockade of Tunable Two-Electron Spin and Valley States in Graphene Quantum Dots.

Pauli blockade mechanisms-whereby carrier transport through quantum dots (QD) is blocked due to selection rules even when energetically allowed-are a direct manifestation of the Pauli exclusion principle, as well as a key mechanism for manipulating and reading out spin qubits. The Pauli spin blockade is well established for systems such as GaAs QDs, but is to be further explored for systems with additional degrees of freedom, such as the valley quantum numbers in carbon-based materials or silicon. Here we report experiments on coupled bilayer graphene double quantum dots, in which the spin and valley states are precisely controlled, enabling the observation of the two-electron combined blockade physics. We demonstrate that the doubly occupied single dot switches between two different ground states with gate and magnetic-field tuning, allowing for the switching of selection rules: with a spin-triplet-valley-singlet ground state, valley blockade is observed; and with the spin-singlet-valley-triplet ground state, robust spin blockade is shown.