Current-induced two-level fluctuations in pseudo spin-valves (Co/Cu/Co) nanostructures

Two-level fluctuations of the magnetization state of pseudo spin-valve pillars Co(10 nm)/Cu(10 nm)/Co(30 nm) embedded in electrodeposited nanowires (~40 nm in diameter, 6000 nm in length) are triggered by spin-polarized currents of 10^7 A/cm^2 at room temperature. The statistical properties of the residence times in the parallel and antiparallel magnetization states reveal two effects with qualitatively different dependences on current intensity. The current appears to have the effect of a field determined as the bias field required to equalize these times. The bias field changes sign when the current polarity is reversed. At this field, the effect of a current density of 10^7 A/cm^2 is to lower the mean time for switching down to the microsecond range. This effect is independent of the sign of the current and is interpreted in terms of an effective temperature for the magnetization.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, revised version, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Electrochemical Surface Modification of Aluminium Sheets for Application to Nano-electronic Devices: Anodization Aluminium and Electrodeposition of Cobalt-Copper

A nano-porous anodized aluminium oxide layer was synthesized on the surface of bulk aluminium at a wide range of anodization voltages. The barrier layer at the pore bottom of anodized aluminium oxide layer was chemically etched to make good electrical contact for nanowires electrodeposited in the pores thus formed on metallic aluminium substrates. Cathodic polarization was examined at a wide range of cathode potentials to investigate the electrodeposition behaviour of Cu and Co into the pores. Co81Cu19/Cu multilayered nanowires were fabricated using a pulse-plating technique into the templates. Co-alloy layer and Cu layer thicknesses were adjusted to 10 nm, by controlling the deposition times. The temperature dependence of the resistance of Co81Cu19/Cu multilayered nanowires grown on the template presented clean metallic characteristics and a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) of 23% was reached at 4

Spin-dependent transport in cluster-assemblednanostructures: influence of cluster size and matrix material

Abstract.: Spin-dependent transport in granular metallic nanostructures has been investigated by means of a thermoelectric measurement. Cobalt clusters of well-defined size (〈n〉 = 15-600) embedded in copper and silver matrices show magnetic field responses of up to several hundred percent at low temperature. The experimental observations are attributed to spin mixing. The influence of cluster size and matrix are discusse

Characterizing extremal digraphs for identifying codes and extremal cases of Bondy's theorem on induced subsets

An identifying code of a (di)graph $G$ is a dominating subset $C$ of the vertices of $G$ such that all distinct vertices of $G$ have distinct (in)neighbourhoods within $C$. In this paper, we classify all finite digraphs which only admit their whole vertex set in any identifying code. We also classify all such infinite oriented graphs. Furthermore, by relating this concept to a well known theorem of A. Bondy on set systems we classify the extremal cases for this theorem

Processing Distinct Linguistic Information Types in Working Memory in Aphasia

This investigation measured performance of individuals with aphasia on working memory tasks targeting their processing of different information types (phonological, semantic, and structural/syntactic). Participants included 3 adults with aphasia. Tasks included a listening span and three novel n-back tasks. The n-back tasks were presented auditorily, and measured both active working memory maintenance ("identity" level) and processing ("depth" level) for each information type. Results indicate that the tasks may be able to differentiate individual performance along the lines of aphasia classification categories, suggesting that the modified n-back tasks may lead to a more precise description of aphasic performance

Fermi-Edge Singularities in AlxGa1-xAs Quantum Wells : Extrinsic Versus Many-Body Scattering Processes

A Fano resonance mechanism is evidenced to control the formation of optical Fermi-edge singularities in multi-subband systems such as remotely doped AlxGa1-xAs heterostructures. Using Fano parameters, we probe the physical nature of the interaction between Fermi-sea electrons and empty conduction subbands. We show that processes of extrinsic origin like alloy-disorder prevail easily at 2D over multiple diffusions from charged valence holes expected by many-body scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Seebeck Effect in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Creating temperature gradients in magnetic nanostructures has resulted in a new research direction, i.e., the combination of magneto- and thermoelectric effects. Here, we demonstrate the observation of one important effect of this class: the magneto-Seebeck effect. It is observed when a magnetic configuration changes the charge based Seebeck coefficient. In particular, the Seebeck coefficient changes during the transition from a parallel to an antiparallel magnetic configuration in a tunnel junction. In that respect, it is the analog to the tunneling magnetoresistance. The Seebeck coefficients in parallel and antiparallel configuration are in the order of the voltages known from the charge-Seebeck effect. The size and sign of the effect can be controlled by the composition of the electrodes' atomic layers adjacent to the barrier and the temperature. Experimentally, we realized 8.8 % magneto-Seebeck effect, which results from a voltage change of about -8.7 {\mu}V/K from the antiparallel to the parallel direction close to the predicted value of -12.1 {\mu}V/K.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 2 table

Photoluminescence investigations of 2D hole Landau levels in p-type single Al_{x}Ga_{1-x}As/GaAs heterostructures

We study the energy structure of two-dimensional holes in p-type single Al_{1-x}Ga_{x}As/GaAs heterojunctions under a perpendicular magnetic field. Photoluminescence measurments with low densities of excitation power reveal rich spectra containing both free and bound-carrier transitions. The experimental results are compared with energies of valence-subband Landau levels calculated using a new numerical procedure and a good agreement is achieved. Additional lines observed in the energy range of free-carrier recombinations are attributed to excitonic transitions. We also consider the role of many-body effects in photoluminescence spectra.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted to Physical Review