Comment on "Observation of Spin Injection at a Ferromagnet-Semiconductor Interface, by P.R. Hammar et al

In a recent Letter Hammar et al. claim the observation of injection of a spin-polarized current in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). This is an important observation, since, despite considerable effort of several groups, all attempts to realize spin-injection into a 2DEG using purely electrical measurements have failed sofar. However, in my opinion the claim made is not correct, and the observed behaviour can be explained by a combination of a magneto resistance (Hall) effect (e.g. generated by the fringe magnetic fields present at the edges of the ferromagnetic electrode), with a {\it spin-independent} rectification effect due to the presence of a metal- semiconductor junction.Comment: accepted for PRL, 1 pag

Diffuse transport and spin accumulation in a Rashba two-dimensional electron gas

The Rashba Hamiltonian describes the splitting of the conduction band as a result of spin-orbit coupling in the presence of an asymmetric confinement potential and is commonly used to model the electronic structure of confined narrow-gap semiconductors. Due to the mixing of spin states some care has to be exercised in the calculation of transport properties. We derive the diffusive conductance tensor for a disordered two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction and show that the applied bias induces a spin accumulation, but that the electric current is not spin-polarized.Comment: REVTeX4 format, 5 page

The Magnetic Spin Ladder (C_{5}H_{12}N)_{2}CuBr_{4}: High Field Magnetization and Scaling Near Quantum Criticality

The magnetization, $M(H \leq 30$ T, 0.7 K $\leq T \leq 300$ K), from single crystals and powder samples of (C$_{5}$H$_{12}$N)$_{2}$CuBr$_{4}$ has been used to identify this system as an $S=1/2$ Heisenberg two-leg ladder in the strong coupling limit, $J_{\perp} = 13.3$ K and $J_{\parallel} = 3.8$ K, with $H_{c1} = 6.6$ T and $H_{c2} = 14.6$ T. An inflection point in $M(H, T = 0.7$ K) at half-saturation, $M_{s}/2$, is described by an effective \emph{XXZ} chain. The data exhibit universal scaling behavior in the vicinity of $H_{c1}$ and $H_{c2}$, indicating the system is near a quantum critical point.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Spin Hall effect transistor

Spin transistors and spin Hall effects have been two separate leading directions of research in semiconductor spintronics which seeks new paradigms for information processing technologies. We have brought the two directions together to realize an all-semiconductor spin Hall effect transistor. Our scheme circumvents semiconductor-ferromagnet interface problems of the original Datta-Das spin transistor concept and demonstrates the utility of the spin Hall effects in microelectronics. The devices use diffusive transport and operate without electrical current, i.e., without Joule heating in the active part of the transistor. We demonstrate a spin AND logic function in a semiconductor channel with two gates. Our experimental study is complemented by numerical Monte Carlo simulations of spin-diffusion through the transistor channel.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Neutron scattering from a coordination polymer quantum paramagnet

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements are reported for a powder sample of the spin-1/2 quantum paramagnet $\rm Cu(Quinoxaline)Br_2$. Magnetic neutron scattering is identified above an energy gap of 1.9 meV. Analysis of the sharp spectral maximum at the onset indicates that the material is magnetically quasi-one-dimensional. Consideration of the wave vector dependence of the scattering and polymeric structure further identifies the material as a two-legged spin-1/2 ladder. Detailed comparison of the data to various models of magnetism in this material based on the single mode approximation and the continuous unitary transformation are presented. The latter theory provides an excellent account of the data with leg exchange $J_{\parallel}=2.0$ meV and rung exchange $J_{\perp}=3.3$ meV.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl

Spin gap in the Quasi-One-Dimensional S=1/2 Antiferromagnet: Cu2(1,4-diazacycloheptane)2Cl4

Cu_{2}(1,4-diazacycloheptane)_{2}Cl_{4} contains double chains of spin 1/2 Cu^{2+} ions. We report ac susceptibility, specific heat, and inelastic neutron scattering measurements on this material. The magnetic susceptibility, $\chi(T)$, shows a rounded maximum at T = 8 K indicative of a low dimensional antiferromagnet with no zero field magnetic phase transition. We compare the $\chi(T)$ data to exact diagonalization results for various one dimensional spin Hamiltonians and find excellent agreement for a spin ladder with intra-rung coupling $J_1 = 1.143(3)$ meV and two mutually frustrating inter-rung interactions: $J_2 = 0.21(3)$ meV and $J_3 = 0.09(5)$ meV. The specific heat in zero field is exponentially activated with an activation energy $\Delta = 0.89(1)$ meV. A spin gap is also found through inelastic neutron scattering on powder samples which identify a band of magnetic excitations for $0.8 < \hbar\omega < 1.5$ meV. Using sum-rules we derive an expression for the dynamic spin correlation function associated with non-interacting propagating triplets in a spin ladder. The van-Hove singularities of such a model are not observed in our scattering data indicating that magnetic excitations in Cu_{2}(1,4-diazacycloheptane)_{2}Cl_{4} are more complicated. For magnetic fields above $H_{c1} \simeq 7.2$ T specific heat data versus temperature show anomalies indicating a phase transition to an ordered state below T = 1 K.Comment: 9 pages, 8 postscript figures, LaTeX, Submitted to PRB 8/4/97, e-mail Comments to [email protected]

Neutron Diffraction Study of the Pressure-Induced Magnetic Ordering in the Spin Gap System TlCuCl3_3

Neutron elastic scattering measurements have been performed under the hydrostatic pressure in order to investigate the spin structure of the pressure-induced magnetic ordering in the spin gap system TlCuCl$_3$. Below the ordering temperature $T_{\rm N}=16.9$ K for the hydrostatic pressure $P=1.48$ GPa, magnetic Bragg reflections were observed at the reciprocal lattice points {\mib Q}=(h, 0, l) with integer $h$ and odd $l$, which are equivalent to those points with the lowest magnetic excitation energy at ambient pressure. This indicates that the spin gap closes due to the applied pressure. The spin structure of the pressure-induced magnetic ordered state for $P=1.48$ GPa was determined.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 3 eps files, jpsj2.cls styl