84 research outputs found
Highly Efficient Spin-Current Operation in a Cu Nano-Ring
An all-metal lateral spin-valve structure has been fabricated with a medial Copper nano-ring to split the diffusive spin-current path. We have demonstrated significant modulation of the non-local signal by the application of a magnetic field gradient across the nano-ring, which is up to 30% more efficient than the conventional Hanle configuration at room temperature. This was achieved by passing a dc current through a current-carrying bar to provide a locally induced Ampère field. We have shown that in this manner a lateral spin-valve gains an additional functionality in the form of three-terminal gate operation for future spintronic logic
Spins go their own way
A semiconductor device that integrates electron spin injection, transport, modulation and detection in a single structure provides an important step in versatility for both fundamental research and practical spintronic applications
Extremely long quasiparticle spin lifetimes in superconducting aluminium using MgO tunnel spin injectors
There has been an intense search in recent years for long-lived
spin-polarized carriers for spintronic and quantum-computing devices. Here we
report that spin polarized quasi-particles in superconducting aluminum layers
have surprisingly long spin-lifetimes, nearly a million times longer than in
their normal state. The lifetime is determined from the suppression of the
aluminum's superconductivity resulting from the accumulation of spin polarized
carriers in the aluminum layer using tunnel spin injectors. A Hanle effect,
observed in the presence of small in-plane orthogonal fields, is shown to be
quantitatively consistent with the presence of long-lived spin polarized
quasi-particles. Our experiments show that the superconducting state can be
significantly modified by small electric currents, much smaller than the
critical current, which is potentially useful for devices involving
superconducting qubits
Giant enhancement of spin accumulation and long-distance spin precession in metallic lateral spin valves
The nonlocal spin injection in lateral spin valves is highly expected to be
an effective method to generate a pure spin current for potential spintronic
application. However, the spin valve voltage, which decides the magnitude of
the spin current flowing into an additional ferromagnetic wire, is typically of
the order of 1 {\mu}V. Here we show that lateral spin valves with low resistive
NiFe/MgO/Ag junctions enable the efficient spin injection with high applied
current density, which leads to the spin valve voltage increased hundredfold.
Hanle effect measurements demonstrate a long-distance collective 2-pi spin
precession along a 6 {\mu}m long Ag wire. These results suggest a route to
faster and manipulable spin transport for the development of pure spin current
based memory, logic and sensing devices.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure
Thermally driven spin injection from a ferromagnet into a non-magnetic metal
Creating, manipulating and detecting spin polarized carriers are the key
elements of spin based electronics. Most practical devices use a perpendicular
geometry in which the spin currents, describing the transport of spin angular
momentum, are accompanied by charge currents. In recent years, new sources of
pure spin currents, i.e., without charge currents, have been demonstrated and
applied. In this paper, we demonstrate a conceptually new source of pure spin
current driven by the flow of heat across a ferromagnetic/non-magnetic metal
(FM/NM) interface. This spin current is generated because the Seebeck
coefficient, which describes the generation of a voltage as a result of a
temperature gradient, is spin dependent in a ferromagnet. For a detailed study
of this new source of spins, it is measured in a non-local lateral geometry. We
developed a 3D model that describes the heat, charge and spin transport in this
geometry which allows us to quantify this process. We obtain a spin Seebeck
coefficient for Permalloy of -3.8 microvolt/Kelvin demonstrating that thermally
driven spin injection is a feasible alternative for electrical spin injection
in, for example, spin transfer torque experiments
Observation of second-harmonic generation induced by pure spin currents
Extensive efforts are currently being devoted to developing a new electronic
technology, called spintronics, where the spin of electrons is explored to
carry information. [1,2] Several techniques have been developed to generate
pure spin currents in many materials and structures. [3-10] However, there is
still no method available that can be used to directly detect pure spin
currents, which carry no net charge current and no net magnetization.
Currently, studies of pure spin currents rely on measuring the induced spin
accumulation with optical techniques [5, 11-13] or spin-valve configurations.
[14-17] However, the spin accumulation does not directly reflect the spatial
distribution or temporal dynamics of the pure spin current, and therefore
cannot monitor the pure spin current in a real-time and real-space fashion.
This imposes severe constraints on research in this field. Here we demonstrate
a second-order nonlinear optical effect of the pure spin current. We show that
such a nonlinear optical effect, which has never been explored before, can be
used for the non-invasive, non-destructive, and real-time imaging of pure spin
currents. Since this detection scheme does not rely on optical resonances, it
can be generally applied in a wide range of materials with different electronic
bandstructures. Furthermore, the control of nonlinear optical properties of
materials with pure spin currents may have potential applications in photonics
integrated with spintronics.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, supplementary discussion adde
Direct electronic measurement of the spin Hall effect
The generation, manipulation and detection of spin-polarized electrons in
nanostructures define the main challenges of spin-based electronics[1]. Amongst
the different approaches for spin generation and manipulation, spin-orbit
coupling, which couples the spin of an electron to its momentum, is attracting
considerable interest. In a spin-orbit-coupled system, a nonzero spin-current
is predicted in a direction perpendicular to the applied electric field, giving
rise to a "spin Hall effect"[2-4]. Consistent with this effect,
electrically-induced spin polarization was recently detected by optical
techniques at the edges of a semiconductor channel[5] and in two-dimensional
electron gases in semiconductor heterostructures[6,7]. Here we report
electrical measurements of the spin-Hall effect in a diffusive metallic
conductor, using a ferromagnetic electrode in combination with a tunnel barrier
to inject a spin-polarized current. In our devices, we observe an induced
voltage that results exclusively from the conversion of the injected spin
current into charge imbalance through the spin Hall effect. Such a voltage is
proportional to the component of the injected spins that is perpendicular to
the plane defined by the spin current direction and the voltage probes. These
experiments reveal opportunities for efficient spin detection without the need
for magnetic materials, which could lead to useful spintronics devices that
integrate information processing and data storage.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Nature (pending
format approval
Electronic measurement and control of spin transport in Silicon
The electron spin lifetime and diffusion length are transport parameters that
define the scale of coherence in spintronic devices and circuits. Since these
parameters are many orders of magnitude larger in semiconductors than in
metals, semiconductors could be the most suitable for spintronics. Thus far,
spin transport has only been measured in direct-bandgap semiconductors or in
combination with magnetic semiconductors, excluding a wide range of
non-magnetic semiconductors with indirect bandgaps. Most notable in this group
is silicon (Si), which (in addition to its market entrenchment in electronics)
has long been predicted a superior semiconductor for spintronics with enhanced
lifetime and diffusion length due to low spin-orbit scattering and lattice
inversion symmetry. Despite its exciting promise, a demonstration of coherent
spin transport in Si has remained elusive, because most experiments focused on
magnetoresistive devices; these methods fail because of universal impedance
mismatch obstacles, and are obscured by Lorentz magnetoresistance and Hall
effects. Here we demonstrate conduction band spin transport across 10 microns
undoped Si, by using spin-dependent ballistic hot-electron filtering through
ferromagnetic thin films for both spin-injection and detection. Not based on
magnetoresistance, the hot electron spin-injection and detection avoids
impedance mismatch issues and prevents interference from parasitic effects. The
clean collector current thus shows independent magnetic and electrical control
of spin precession and confirms spin coherent drift in the conduction band of
silicon.Comment: Single PDF file with 4 Figure
Non-destructive imaging of buried electronic interfaces using a decelerated scanning electron beam
Recent progress in nanotechnology enables the production of atomically abrupt interfaces in multilayered junctions, allowing to increase the number of transistors in a processor, as known as Moore’s law, for example. However, uniform electron transport has never been achieved across the entire interfacial area in junctions due to the existence of local defects, causing local heating and reduction in transport efficiency. To date, junction uniformity has been predominantly assessed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, which requires slicing and milling processes with potentially introducing additional damage and deformation. It is therefore essential to develop an alternative non-destructive method. Here we show a non-destructive technique using scanning electron microscopy to map buried junction properties. By controlling the electron-beam energy, we demonstrate the contrast imaging of local junction resistances at a controlled depth. This technique can be applied to any buried junctions, from conventional semiconductor and metal devices to organic devices
Transformation of spin information into large electrical signals via carbon nanotubes
Spin electronics (spintronics) exploits the magnetic nature of the electron,
and is commercially exploited in the spin valves of disc-drive read heads.
There is currently widespread interest in using industrially relevant
semiconductors in new types of spintronic devices based on the manipulation of
spins injected into a semiconducting channel between a spin-polarized source
and drain. However, the transformation of spin information into large
electrical signals is limited by spin relaxation such that the magnetoresistive
signals are below 1%. We overcome this long standing problem in spintronics by
demonstrating large magnetoresistance effects of 61% at 5 K in devices where
the non-magnetic channel is a multiwall carbon nanotube that spans a 1.5 micron
gap between epitaxial electrodes of the highly spin polarized manganite
La0.7Sr0.3MnO3. This improvement arises because the spin lifetime in nanotubes
is long due the small spin-orbit coupling of carbon, because the high nanotube
Fermi velocity permits the carrier dwell time to not significantly exceed this
spin lifetime, because the manganite remains highly spin polarized up to the
manganite-nanotube interface, and because the interfacial barrier is of an
appropriate height. We support these latter statements regarding the interface
using density functional theory calculations. The success of our experiments
with such chemically and geometrically different materials should inspire
adventure in materials selection for some future spintronicsComment: Content highly modified. New title, text, conclusions, figures and
references. New author include
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