Magnetic Field Effects on Quantum-Dot Spin Valves

We study the magnetic field effects on the spin-polarized transport of the quantum dot (QD) spin valve inthe sequential tunneling regime. A set of generalized master equation is derived. Based on that, we discuss the collinearand noncollinear magnetic field effects, respectively. In the collinear magnetic field case, we find that the Zeeman splittingcan induce a negative differential conductance (NDC), which is quite different from the one found in previous studies.It has a critical polarization in the parallel arrangement and will disappear in the antiparallel configuration. In thenoncollinear magnetic field case, the current shows two plateaus and their angular dependence is analyzed. Althoughsometimes the two current plateaus have similar angular dependence, their mechanisms are different. Our formalism isalso suitable for calculating the transport in magnetic molecules, in which the spin splitting is induced not by a magneticGeld but by the intrinsic magnetization.