Spin effects in single-electron transport through carbon nanotube quantum dots

We investigate the total spin in an individual single-wall carbon nanotube quantum dot with various numbers of electrons in a shell by using the ratio of the saturation currents of the first steps of Coulomb staircases for positive and negative biases. The current ratio reflects the total-spin transition that is increased or decreased when the dot is connected to strongly asymmetric tunnel barriers. Our results indicate that total spin states with and without magnetic fields can be traced by this method.