Spin States in Graphene Quantum Dots

We investigate ground and excited state transport through small (d≈70 nm) graphene quantum dots. The successive spin filling of orbital states is detected by measuring the difference between ground-state energies as a function of a magnetic field. For a magnetic field in-plane of the quantum dot the Zeeman splitting of spin states is measured. The results are compatible with a g factor of 2, and we detect a spin-filling sequence for a series of states which is reasonable given the strength of exchange interaction effects expected by comparing Coulomb interaction energy and kinetic energy of charge carriers in graphene.