Ordering in a spin glass under applied magnetic field

Torque, torque relaxation, and magnetization measurements on a AuFe spin glass sample are reported. The experiments carried out up to 7 T show a transverse irreversibility line in the (H,T) plane up to high applied fields, and a distinct strong longitudinal irreversibility line at lower fields. The data demonstrate for that this type of sample, a Heisenberg spin glass with moderately strong anisotropy, the spin glass ordered state survives under high applied fields in contrast to predictions of certain "droplet" type scaling models. The overall phase diagram closely ressembles those of mean field or chiral models, which both have replica symmetry breaking transitions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for PR

Albert Fert

Albert Fert va néixer a Carcassona l'any 1938. Membre de l'Acadèmia Francesa de les Ciències, és professor de Física a la Universitat de París Sud des de l'any 1975. Entre els anys 1970 i 1975 va ser director de recerca al Laboratoire de Physique des Solides (Université Paris-Surd, Orsay) i, des del 1995 és director científic de la Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales (Palaiseau). L'activitat científica d'Albert Fert s'ha centrat en treballs experimentals i teòrics en el camp de la Física de la Matèria Condensada (metalls i aliatges, magnetisme, vidres d'espí, transport electrònic, nanostructures magnètiques i electrònica d'espí). Ha fet contribucions pioneres, fonamentalment relacionades amb el transport de càrrega depenent de l'espí que, finalment, el van portar a descobrir la GMR i a fer de l'espintrònica un nou camp de la ciència que pot rellevar l'electrònica actual. Fert va descobrir la GMR al mateix temps, encara que de manera independent, que el científic Peter Grunberg. Tots dos van rebre el Premi Nobel de Física 2007 per aquesta troballa, que es pot considerar la primera aplicació a gran escala de les noves nanotecnologies. Aquest efecte és la base de l'espintrònica, que explota la càrrega de l'electró i l'orientació de l'espí, o imant, per obtenir dispositius més petits i eficaços, i permet que puguin tenir noves funcionalitats. L'investigador francès ha publicat prop de 300 articles i ha col·laborat en 7 llibres. S'han fet més d'11.000 citacions dels seus articles. A més del Premi Nobel, ha rebut diversos guardons nacionals i internacionals, entre les quals cal remarcar el premi internacional James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials de la Societat Americana de Física i el premi Europhysics de la Societat Europea de Física. Albert Fert col·labora estretament amb diferents centres de recerca i laboratoris del campus de la UAB, especialment amb l'ICMAB, que forma part del Parc de Recerca UAB. Ha estat vinculat també amb altres institucions científiques i universitàries catalanes, destacant la seva col·laboració activa en la creació de l'Institut Català de Nanotecnologia, centre del Parc de Recerca UAB, pel que fa a les línies de recerca que s'hi desenvolupenNomenament 21/05/2009. A proposta de Facultat de Ciències. Investidura 21/05/2009. Padrí: Josep Fontcubert

Spin Transfer from a Ferromagnet into a Semiconductor through an Oxide barrier

We present results on the magnetoresistance of the system Ni/Al203/n-doped Si/Al2O3/Ni in fabricated nanostructures. The results at temperature of 14K reveal a 75% magnetoresistance that decreases in value up to approximately 30K where the effect disappears. We observe minimum resistance in the antiparallel configurations of the source and drain of Ni. As a possibility, it seems to indicate the existence of a magnetic state at the Si/oxide interface. The average spin diffusion length obtained is of 650 nm approximately. Results are compared to the window of resistances that seems to exist between the tunnel barrier resistance and two threshold resistances but the spin transfer seems to work in the range and outside the two thresholds

Electric-field dependent spin diffusion and spin injection into semiconductors

We derive a drift-diffusion equation for spin polarization in semiconductors by consistently taking into account electric-field effects and nondegenerate electron statistics. We identify a high-field diffusive regime which has no analogue in metals. In this regime there are two distinct spin diffusion lengths. Furthermore, spin injection from a ferromagnetic metal into a semiconductor is enhanced by several orders of magnitude and spins can be transported over distances much greater than the low-field spin diffusion length.Comment: 5 pages, 3 eps figure

Microwave excitations associated with a wavy angular dependence of the spin transfer torque : model and experiments

The spin transfer torque (STT) can lead to steady precession of magnetization without any external applied field in magnetic spin valve where the magnetic layer have very different spin diffusion length. This effect is associated with an unusual angular dependence of the STT, called "wavy" (WAD-STT), predicted in the frame of diffusive models of spin transfer. In this article, we present a complete experimental characterization of the magnetization dynamics in the presence of a WAD-STT. The results are compared to the prediction of the magnetization dynamics obtained by single domain magnetic simulations (macrospin approximation). The macrospin simulations well reproduced the main static and dynamical experimental features (phase diagram, R(I) curves, dependence of frequency with current and field) and suggest that the dynamical excitations observed experimentally are associated with a large angle out-of-plane precession mode. The present work validates the diffusive models of the spin transfer and underlines the role of the spin accumulation and the spin relaxation effects on the STT

Transmission of correlated electrons through sharp domain walls in magnetic nanowires: a renormalization group approach

The transmission of correlated electrons through a domain wall in a ferromagnetic one dimensional system is studied theoretically in the limit of a domain wall width smaller or comparable to the electron Fermi wavelength. The domain wall gives rise to both potential and spin dependent scattering of the charge carriers. Using a poor man's renormalization group approach for the electron-electron interactions, we obtain the low temperature behavior of the reflection and transmission coefficients. The results show that the low-temperature conductance is governed by the electron correlations, which may suppress charge transport without suppressing spin current. The results may account for a huge magnetoresistance associated with a domain wall in ballistic nanocontacs.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Giant Extrinsic Spin Hall Effect due to Rare-Earth Impurities

We investigate the extrinsic spin Hall effect in the electron gas model due to magnetic impurities, by focusing on Ce- and Yb-impurities. In the dilute limit, the skew scattering term dominates the side jump term. For Ce-impurities, the spin Hall angle $\alpha_{\rm SH}$ due to skew scattering is given by $-8\pi\sin\delta_2/7$, where $\delta_2 (\ll 1)$ is the phase shift for$d (l=2)$ partial wave. Since $\alpha_{\rm SH}$ reaches $O(10^{-1})$ if \delta_2 \simge 0.03, the spin Hall effect is anticipated to be considerable in metals with rare-earth impurities. The giant extrinsic SHE originates from the large orbital angular momentum, which is also significant for the intrinsic SHE.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in New Journal of Physic

Nano-Hall sensors with granular Co-C

We analyzed the performance of Hall sensors with different Co-C ratios, deposited directly in nano-structured form, using $Co_2(CO)_8$ gas molecules, by focused electron or ion beam induced deposition. Due to the enhanced inter-grain scattering in these granular wires, the Extraordinary Hall Effect can be increased by two orders of magnitude with respect to pure Co, up to a current sensitivity of $1 \Omega/T$. We show that the best magnetic field resolution at room temperature is obtained for Co ratios between 60% and 70% and is better than $1 \mu T/Hz^{1/2}$. For an active area of the sensor of $200 \times 200 nm^2$, the room temperature magnetic flux resolution is $\phi_{min} = 2\times10^{-5}\phi_0$, in the thermal noise frequency range, i.e. above 100 kHz.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Full oxide heterostructure combining a high-Tc diluted ferromagnet with a high-mobility conductor

We report on the growth of heterostructures composed of layers of the high-Curie temperature ferromagnet Co-doped (La,Sr)TiO3 (Co-LSTO) with high-mobility SrTiO3 (STO) substrates processed at low oxygen pressure. While perpendicular spin-dependent transport measurements in STO//Co-LSTO/LAO/Co tunnel junctions demonstrate the existence of a large spin polarization in Co-LSTO, planar magnetotransport experiments on STO//Co-LSTO samples evidence electronic mobilities as high as 10000 cm2/Vs at T = 10 K. At high enough applied fields and low enough temperatures (H < 60 kOe, T < 4 K) Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations are also observed. We present an extensive analysis of these quantum oscillations and relate them with the electronic properties of STO, for which we find large scattering rates up to ~ 10 ps. Thus, this work opens up the possibility to inject a spin-polarized current from a high-Curie temperature diluted oxide into an isostructural system with high-mobility and a large spin diffusion length.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev.