Spin Polarization Of Conduction Electrons Research Articles

Large Manipulation of Ferrimagnetic Curie Temperature by A-Site Chemical Substitution in ACu3Fe2Re2O12 (A = Na, Ca, and La) Half Metals.

CaCu3Fe2Re2O12 and LaCu3Fe2Re2O12 quadruple perovskite oxides are well known for their high ferrimagnetic Curie temperatures and half-metallic electronic structures. By A-site chemical substitution with lower valence state Na+, an isostructural compound NaCu3Fe2Re2O12 with both A- and B-site ordered quadruple perovskite structures in Pn-3 symmetry was prepared using high-pressure and high-temperature techniques. The X-ray absorption study demonstrates the valence states to be Cu2+, Fe3+, and Re5.5+. A ferrimagnetic phase transition is found to take place at the Curie temperature TC ≈ 240 K, which is much less than that observed in A = Ca (560 K) and La (710 K) analogues. NaCu3Fe2Re2O12 possesses a larger saturated magnetic moment up to 9.4 μB/f.u. as well as a remarkably reduced coercive field less than 10 Oe at 2 K. Theoretical calculations suggest that NaCu3Fe2Re2O12 displays a half-metallic electronic band structure with complete spin polarization of conduction electrons in the minority-spin bands. The magnetic properties and electronic structures of the ACu3Fe2Re2O12 family are compared and discussed.

Sign Reversal of Spin-Transfer Torques.

Spin-transfer torque (STT) and spin-orbit torque (SOT) form the core of spintronics, allowing for the control of magnetization through electric currents. While the sign of SOT can be manipulated through material and structural engineering, it is conventionally understood that STT lacks a degree of freedom in its sign. However, this study presents the first demonstration of manipulating the STT sign by engineering heavy metals adjacent to magnetic materials in magnetic heterostructures. Spin torques are quantified through magnetic domain-wall speed measurements, and subsequently, both STT and SOT are systematically extracted from these measurements. The results unequivocally show that the sign of STT can be either positive or negative, depending on the materials adjacent to the magnetic layers. Specifically, Pd/Co/Pd films exhibit positive STT, while Pt/Co/Pt films manifest negative STT. First-principle calculations further confirm that the sign reversal of STT originates from the sign reversal of spin polarization of conduction electrons.

(Invited) Quest for Fully Spin and Optically Polarized Semiconductor Nanostructures for Room-Temperature Opto-Spintronics

Spintronics represents a new paradigm for future electronics, photonics and information technology, which explores the spin degree of freedom of the electron for information storage, processing and transfer. Since 1990s, we have witnessed great success of metal-based spintronics that has revolutionized the mass data storage industry. There has also been an enormous push for semiconductor spintronics during the past three decades, with the aim to capitalize the past and current success of charge-based semiconductor technology and to make its spin counterpart the backbone of future spintronics just like semiconductors have done in today’s electronics/photonics. An exclusive advantage of semiconductor spintronics is its potential for opto-spintronics that will allow integration of spin-based information processing and storage with photon-based information transfer and communications. Unfortunately, progresses of semiconductor spintronics have so far been severely hampered by the failure to generate nearly fully spin-polarized charge carriers in semiconductors at and above room temperature (RT) at which today’s devices operate.In this work, we succeed to achieve conduction electron spin polarization exceeding 90% at RT in a semiconductor nanostructure, which remains steadily high even up to 110°C [1]. This represents the highest RT electron spin polarization ever reported in any semiconductor by any approach! This breakthrough is accomplished by a conceptually new approach of defect-engineered remote spin filtering and amplification of InAs quantum-dot (QD) electrons via an adjacent tunneling-coupled GaNAs quantum well acting as a spin filter. The extraordinary spin filtering effect in GaNAs is enabled by spin-dependent recombination via spin-polarized defects, i.e. grown-in Ga self-interstitials, which selectively deplete conduction electrons with an opposite spin orientation to that of the defect electron. In sharp contrast to the general trend of deteriorating spin polarization with increasing temperature seen in all other approaches of spin generation, our approach is gifted with an opposite temperature dependence up to RT thanks to a thermally accelerated remote spin-filtering effect as a result of thermally activated recombination via the defects [2]. We further show that the QD electron spin can be remotely manipulated by spin control in the adjacent spin filter, paving the way for remote spin encoding and writing of quantum memory as well as for remote spin control of spin-photon interfaces. This work demonstrates the feasibility to implement opto-spintronic functionality under practical device operation conditions in a semiconductor nanostructure system based on the mature III-V semiconductor technology commonly used for today’s optoelectronics and photonics. It could also pave the way for a range of potential spintronic and opto-spintronic applications exploiting the state-of-the-art GaAs technology platform, such as spin-LEDs, spin lasers, spin-polarized single-photon sources, quantum spin-photon interfaces, spin qubits, etc.

Particles-Matrix Bond in ZnCoO:H and ZnCoAlO:H Films: Issues of Magnetism and Spin Injection.

ZnCoO:H and ZnCoAlO:H films were synthesized by radio frequency magnetron sputtering in a (1 - x)Ar + xH2 mixed atmosphere with x = 0.2-0.5. The films contain different amounts of metallic Co particles (from 7.6% and higher) ~4-7 nm in size. The magnetic and magneto-optical (MO) behavior of the films was analyzed in combination with their structural data. The samples exhibit high values of magnetization (up to 377 emu/cm3) and MO response at room temperature. Two situations are considered: (1) the film magnetism is associated only with isolated metal particles and (2) magnetism is present both in the oxide matrix and in metal inclusions. It has been established that the formation mechanism of the magnetic structure of ZnO:Co2+ is due to the spin-polarized conduction electrons of metal particles and zinc vacancies. It was also found that in the presence of two magnetic components in the films, these components are exchange-coupled. In this case, the exchange coupling generates a high spin polarization of the films. The spin-dependent transport properties of the samples have been studied. A high value of the negative magnetoresistance of the films at room temperature (~4%) was found. This behavior was explained in terms of the giant magnetoresistance model. Thus, the ZnCoO:H and ZnCoAlO:H films with high spin polarization can be considered as sources of spin injection.

Spatial spin-spin correlations of the single-impurity Anderson model with a ferromagnetic bath

We investigate the interplay between the Kondo effect and the ferromagnetism by an one dimension Anderson impurity model with a spin partially polarized bath, using the projective truncation approximation under Lacroix basis.The equal-time spatial spin-spin correlation function (SSCF) is calculated. For the case of spin-unpolarized conduction electrons, it agrees qualitatively with the results from density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). For system with partially spin-polarized conduction electrons, an oscillation in the envelope of SSCF emerges due to the beating of two Friedel oscillations associated to two spin-split Fermi surfaces of conduction electrons. The period is proportional to the inverse of magnetic field $h$. A fitting formula is proposed to perfectly fits the numerical results of SSCF in both the short- and long-range regions. For large enough bath spin polarization, a bump appears in the curve of the integrated SSCF. It marks the boundary between the suppressed Kondo cloud and the polarized bath sites.

Spin-polarized supercurrent through the van der Waals Kondo-lattice ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2

In the new van der Waals Kondo-lattice Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$, itinerant ferromagnetism and heavy fermionic behaviour coexist. Both the key properties of such a system namely a spin-polarized Fermi surface and a low Fermi momentum are expected to significantly alter Andreev reflection dominated transport at a contact with a superconducting electrode, and display unconventional proximity-induced superconductivity. We observed interplay between Andreev reflection and Kondo resonance at mesoscopic interfaces between superconducting Nb and Fe$_3$GeTe$_2$. Above the critical temperature ($T_c$) of Nb, the recorded differential conductance ($dI/dV$) spectra display a robust zero-bias anomaly which is described well by a characteristic Fano line shape arising from Kondo resonance. Below $T_c$, the Fano line mixes with Andreev reflection dominated $dI/dV$ leading to a dramatic, unconventional suppression of conductance at zero bias. As a consequence, an analysis of the Andreev reflection spectra within a spin-polarized model yields an anomalously large spin-polarization which is not explained by the density of states of the spin-split bands at the Fermi surface alone. The results open up the possibilities of fascinating interplay between various quantum phenomena that may potentially emerge at the mesoscopic superconducting interfaces involving Kondo lattice systems hosting spin-polarized conduction electrons.

Transition of laser-induced terahertz spin currents from torque- to conduction-electron-mediated transport

Spin transport is crucial for future spintronic devices operating at bandwidths up to the terahertz (THz) range. In F|N thin-film stacks made of a ferro/ferrimagnetic layer F and a normal-metal layer N, spin transport is mediated by (1) spin-polarized conduction electrons and/or (2) torque between electron spins. To identify a cross-over from (1) to (2), we study laser-driven spin currents in F|Pt stacks where F consists of model materials with different degrees of electrical conductivity. For the magnetic insulators YIG, GIG and maghemite, identical dynamics is observed. It arises from the THz interfacial spin Seebeck effect (SSE), is fully determined by the relaxation of the electrons in the metal layer and provides an estimate of the spin-mixing conductance of the GIG/Pt interface. Remarkably, in the half-metallic ferrimagnet Fe3O4 (magnetite), our measurements reveal two spin-current components with opposite direction. The slower, positive component exhibits SSE dynamics and is assigned to torque-type magnon excitation of the A- and B-spin sublattices of Fe3O4. The faster, negative component arises from the pyro-spintronic effect and can consistently be assigned to ultrafast demagnetization of e-sublattice minority-spin hopping electrons. This observation supports the magneto-electronic model of Fe3O4. In general, our results provide a new route to the contact-free separation of torque- and conduction-electron-mediated spin currents.

IrCrMnZ (Z = Al, Ga, Si, Ge) Heusler alloys as electrode materials for MgO-based magnetic tunneling junctions: a first-principles study

We study IrCrMnZ (Z = Al, Ga, Si, Ge) systems using first-principles calculations from the perspective of their application as electrode materials of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). These materials have highly spin-polarized conduction electrons with a partially occupied Δ1 band, which is important for coherent tunneling in a parallel magnetization configuration. The Curie temperatures of IrCrMnAl and IrCrMnGa are very high (above 1300 K), as predicted from mean-field-approximation. The stability of the ordered phase against various antisite disorders is investigated. We discuss here the effect of ‘spin-orbit-coupling’ on the electronic structure around the Fermi level. Further, we investigate the electronic structure of the IrCrMnZ/MgO heterojunction along the (001) direction. IrCrMnAl/MgO and IrCrMnGa/MgO maintain half-metallicity even at the MgO interface, with no interfacial states at/around the Fermi level in the minority-spin channel. Large majority-spin conductance of IrCrMnAl/MgO/IrCrMnAl and IrCrMnGa/MgO/IrCrMnGa is reported from the calculation of the ballistic spin-transport property for the parallel magnetization configuration. We propose IrCrMnAl/MgO/IrCrMnAl and IrCrMnGa/MgO/IrCrMnGa as promising MTJs with a weaker temperature dependence of tunneling magnetoresistance ratio, owing to their very high Curie temperatures.

Chiral Photodetector Based on GaAsN

AbstractThe detection of light helicity is key for various applications, from drug production to optical communications. However, the light helicity direct measurement is inherently impossible with conventional photodetectors based on III–V or IV–VI non‐chiral semiconductors. The prior polarization analysis by often moving optical elements is necessary before light is sent to the detector. A method is here presented to effectively give the conventional dilute nitride GaAs‐based semiconductor epilayer a chiral photoconductivity. The detection scheme relies on the giant spin‐dependent recombination of conduction electrons and the accompanying spin polarization of the engineered defects to control the conduction band. As the conduction electron spin polarization is, in turn, intimately linked to the excitation light polarization, the light polarization state and intensity can be determined by a simple conductivity measurement. This approach, removing the need for any optical elements in front of a non‐chiral detector, could offer easier integration and miniaturization. This new chiral photodetector could potentially operate in a spectral range from the visible to the infra‐red using (InGaAl)AsN alloys or ion‐implanted nitrogen‐free III–V compounds.

Room-temperature electron spin polarization exceeding 90% in an opto-spintronic semiconductor nanostructure via remote spin filtering

An exclusive advantage of semiconductor spintronics is its potential for opto-spintronics, which will allow integration of spin-based information processing/storage with photon-based information transfer/communications. Unfortunately, progress has so far been severely hampered by the failure to generate nearly fully spin-polarized charge carriers in semiconductors at room temperature. Here we demonstrate successful generation of conduction electron spin polarization exceeding 90% at room temperature without a magnetic field in a non-magnetic all-semiconductor nanostructure, which remains high even up to 110 °C. This is accomplished by remote spin filtering of InAs quantum-dot electrons via an adjacent tunnelling-coupled GaNAs spin filter. We further show that the quantum-dot electron spin can be remotely manipulated by spin control in the adjacent spin filter, paving the way for remote spin encoding and writing of quantum memory as well as for remote spin control of spin–photon interfaces. This work demonstrates the feasibility to implement opto-spintronic functionality in common semiconductor nanostructures. An electron spin polarization of 90% is achieved in a non-magnetic nanostructure at room temperature without magnetic field. This is accomplished by remote spin filtering of InAs quantum-dot electrons via an adjacent tunnelling-coupled GaNAs spin filter.

Current-Driven Domain Wall Dynamics in Ferrimagnetic Nickel-Doped Mn4N Films: Very Large Domain Wall Velocities and Reversal of Motion Direction across the Magnetic Compensation Point.

Spin-transfer torque (STT) and spin-orbit torque (SOT) are spintronic phenomena allowing magnetization manipulation using electrical currents. Beyond their fundamental interest, they allow developing new classes of magnetic memories and logic devices, in particular based on domain wall (DW) motion. In this work, we report the study of STT-driven DW motion in ferrimagnetic manganese nickel nitride (Mn4-xNixN) films, in which magnetization and angular momentum compensation can be obtained by the fine adjustment of the Ni content. Large domain wall velocities, approaching 3000 m/s, are measured for Ni compositions close to the angular momentum compensation point. The reversal of the DW motion direction, observed when the compensation composition is crossed, is related to the change of direction of the angular momentum with respect to that of the spin polarization. This is confirmed by the results of ab initio band structure calculations.

Proximity Effect in Heterostructures Based on a Superconductor/Half-Metal System

We demonstrated that with increasing the exchange splitting of the conduction band of a ferromagnet and, respectively, of the degree of the spin polarization, the probability of transmission of the superconducting Cooper pairs through the S/F interface decreases. We concluded that the spin imbalance plays a key role in the processes taking place at the interface between a superconductor and a ferromagnet with spin-polarized conduction electrons. We have studied the superconducting spin-valve effect in F1/F2/S heterostructures containing the Heusler alloy Co2Cr1−xFexAly as one of two ferromagnetic (F1 or F2) layers. We used the Heusler alloy layer in two roles: as a weak ferromagnet on the place of the F2 layer and as a half-metal on the place of the F1 layer. In the first case, we obtained the full switching between the normal and superconducting states is realized with the dominant aid of the long-range triplet component of the superconducting pair condensate which occurs at the perpendicular mutual orientation of magnetizations. In the second case, we observed separation between the superconducting transitions for perpendicular and parallel configurations of magnetizations reaching 0.5 K. We also find a good agreement between our experimental data and theoretical results.

Probing interband and intraband transitions in magneto-optical FeT (T = Cr, Co, Ni) alloys from electronic structure studies

Photoelectron spectroscopy as a function of temperature is used to study interband and intraband transitions in magneto-optical FeT (T = Cr, Co, Ni) alloys. Valence band studies on these alloys indicates a strong d-d hybridization between Fe and T atoms which gives rise to localized valence states and contributes to direct interband transition while the s-d hybridized band contribute to the intraband transition and give rise to the spin polarized conduction electrons. The analysis of core levels shows that the spin orbit coupling is influenced by the near neighbour interaction between Fe and T atoms. The exchange interaction has the temperature dependence which drives the itinerant electron magnetism in FeT alloys. We find that the large density of the itinerant states at the Fermi edge and the large separation between the localized and the itinerant electronic state in FeCr are crucial for the large magneto-optical property reported in this system. In FeCo and FeNi, the overlapped localized and itinerant electronic states make these materials optically anisotropic.

Accumulation of spin-polarized states of charge carriers and a spintronic battery

Spin valves based on materials in which the spin-flip is suppressed by the spatial separation of charge carriers, while maintaining electric neutrality in the valve volume, are considered. The possibility of using these valves as electric batteries is discussed. Regulating the potential difference on the valve, one can expect the effects of incommensurability of the type of “devil's staircase” associated with the Coulomb interaction and redistribution of electrons occurring while the battery is charged and discharged. The effects of the emergence and vanishing of spontaneous spin polarization of conduction electrons with a change in the Fermi level in the valve are predicted. Such spin valves can also be used in implementing spintronic memory cells, supercapacitors, and similar devices.

Magnon-driven chiral charge and spin pumping and electron-magnon scattering from time-dependent quantum transport combined with classical atomistic spin dynamics

Using newly developed quantum-classical hybrid framework, we investigate interaction between spin-polarized conduction electrons and a single spin wave (SW) coherently excited within a metallic ferromagnetic nanowire. When the nanowire hosting SW is attached to two normal metal (NM) leads, with no dc bias voltage applied between them, the SW pumps chiral electronic charge and spin currents into the leads---their direction is tied to the direction of SW propagation and they scale linearly with the frequency of the precession. This is in contrast to: standard pumping by the uniform precession mode with identical spin currents flowing in both directions and no accompanying charge current; or experimentally observed [C.~Ciccarelli et al., Nat. Nanotech. 10, 50 (2014); M.~Evelt et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 024408 (2017)] magnonic charge pumping which requires spin-orbit coupling spin-orbit coupling. The mechanism behind our prediction is nonadiabaticity due to time-retardation effects---motion of localized magnetic moment affects conduction electron spin in a retarded way, so that it takes a finite time until the electron spin reacts to the motion of the classical vector. Upon injecting dc spin-polarized charge current from the left NM lead, electrons interact with SW where outflowing charge and spin current into the right NM lead are changed due to both scattering off time-dependent potential generated by the SW and superposition with the currents pumped by the SW itself. Using Lorentzian voltage pulse to excite leviton out of the Fermi sea, which carries one electron charge with no accompanying electron-hole pairs and behaves as soliton-like quasiparticle, we describe how a single electron interacts with a single SW.

Spin Polarization of Nonequilibrium Conduction Electrons in Magnetic Junctions

An original equation for nonequilibrium spin polarization in magnetic junctions based on dynamic equations for magnetic moment was obtained. Spatial nonuniformity of the distribution of carriers is taken into account in the equations, and the magnetic moment is averaged over the ensemble of nonequilibrium spin-injected electrons. The solution to the dynamic equations for the magnetic moment is used to estimate the probability of spin-flip electron transitions upon spin injection, and the solution to the equation for the nonequilibrium spin polarization in magnetic junctions is used to calculate frequencies of photon emission or absorption at energies corresponding to the energy of effective exchange splitting of spin subbands.

Spin current polarization and electrical conductivity in metal helimagnets

The peculiarities of spin and charge kinetics in helical magnetic metals that are due to forces acting on the magnetic moment of conduction electrons in inhomogeneous magnetic field have been considered. Analyzing the equations of motion for non-equilibrium spin density shows that an electric field directed along the axis of the helix produces conduction-electron spin polarization along this direction. Under the same conditions, the directions of polarization of the spin current and polarization of the locally equilibrium spin density are collinear. The specific structure of the effective exchange field acting on the conduction electrons in helical magnets causes two additional spin relaxation mechanisms to emerge. In addition to the mechanism of spin-lattice relaxation, “diffusion” and “precession” mechanisms of spin relaxation exist in conductive helical magnets. The diffusion mechanism is analogous to the Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation mechanism. The key point is that the inhomogeneities of a magnetic field initiate a coupling between the spin and charge systems. It has been shown that, in a helical metal, the electrical conductivity decreases due to the action of the non-uniform exchange magnetic field.

Electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of Mn-doped GaSb: A first-principles study

Half-metallic ferromagnets can produce fully spin-polarized conduction electrons and can be applied to fabricate spintronic devices. Thus, in this study, the electronic structure, magnetic properties, and optical properties of GaSb, which has exhibited half-metallicity, doped with Mn, a 3d transition metal, are calculated using the generalized gradient approximation and Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE) functional. Ga1−xMnxSb (x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75) materials exhibit ferromagnetic half-metallic properties and a high Curie temperature, indicating that this series can be applied in spintronic devices. Meanwhile, they absorb strongly in the infrared band, suggesting that Ga1−xMnxSb also has potential applications in infrared photoelectric devices.

Dynamics of Spatially Inhomogeneous Spin Polarization of Nonequilibrium Conduction Electrons in Magnetic Transitions

The equation of the dynamics of the magnetic moment motion that has been averaged over the ensemble of nonequilibrium spin-injected electrons in a ferromagnetic transition in the presence of exchange interaction, interaction with an external electromagnetic field, and a thermostat has been obtained taking into account the spatial inhomogeneity of the charge carrier distribution. It has been shown that taking into account the spatial inhomogeneity of the charge carrier distribution in the equation of the dynamics of the magnetic moment motion allows for describing the various processes of electron transfer in the magnetic transition. The probability of quantum transitions of electrons with opposite spin directions, which determine spin relaxation in interaction with a thermostat, has been estimated. It has been shown that the anisotropy of the radiation medium is determined not only by the anisotropy of the sd-exchange tensor, but also by the additional anisotropy that is caused by the electron impulse derivatives of this tensor. The considered phenomena have a great potential for the detection of new effects and development of new devices based on them, including compact tunable radiation sources in the terahertz frequency range, which is obviously difficult to generate.

Imaging Domains in a Zero-Moment Half Metal

We have a choice of methods for examining domains at the surface of a ferromagnet that depend on probing the stray field distribution, but these methods do not work in antiferromagnets or compensated ferrimagnets, which produce no stray field. The discovery of compensated ferrimagnetic half metals allows for the local magnetization state to be observed directly with polarized light. The example considered here, Mn <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> Ru <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> Ga, has two inequivalent but oppositely aligned Mn sublattices with equal and opposite moments, but only one of them contributes spin-polarized conduction electrons at the Fermi energy. The material looks like an antiferromagnet from the outside, but from the point of view of the electronic structure, it resembles a spin-polarized ferromagnetic metal. The anisotropy axis is perpendicular to the film plane, which allows domains to be imaged directly by polar magneto-optic Kerr effect. The domain structure in a film with a composition of Mn <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> Ru <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.4</sub> Ga has been imaged in a Kerr microscope and hysteresis loops have been traced. Domains have dimensions of order 20 μm with meandering domain walls and a fractal dimension D <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">f</sub> = 1.85. Our results open new direct imaging possibilities of magnetically ordered materials with no net moment.