Antilocalization of Coulomb Blockade in a Ge-Si Nanowire

A. P. Higginbotham, F. Kuemmeth, T. W. Larsen, M. Fitzpatrick, J. Yao, H. Yan, C. M. Lieber, C. M. Marcus

Published 2014-01-13Version 1

The distribution of Coulomb blockade peak heights as a function of magnetic field is investigated experimentally in a Ge-Si nanowire quantum dot. Strong spin-orbit coupling in this hole-gas system leads to antilocalization of Coulomb blockade peaks, consistent with theory. In particular, the peak height distribution has its maximum away from zero at zero magnetic field, with an average that decreases with increasing field. Magnetoconductance in the open-wire regime places a bound on the spin-orbit length ($l_{so}$ < 20 nm), consistent with values extracted in the Coulomb blockade regime ($l_{so}$ < 25 nm).