1,150 research outputs found
Influence of interface structure on electronic properties and Schottky barriers in Fe/GaAs magnetic junctions
The electronic and magnetic properties of Fe/GaAs(001) magnetic junctions are
investigated using first-principles density-functional calculations. Abrupt and
intermixed interfaces are considered, and the dependence of charge transfer,
magnetization profiles, Schottky barrier heights, and spin polarization of
densities of states on interface structure is studied. With As-termination, an
abrupt interface with Fe is favored, while Ga-terminated GaAs favors the
formation of an intermixed layer with Fe. The Schottky barrier heights are
particularly sensitive to the abruptness of the interface. A significant
density of states in the semiconducting gap arises from metal interface states.
These spin-dependent interface states lead to a significant minority spin
polarization of the density of states at the Fermi level that persists well
into the semiconductor, providing a channel for the tunneling of minority spins
through the Schottky barrier. These interface-induced gap states and their
dependence on atomic structure at the interface are discussed in connection
with potential spin-injection applications.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, to appear in PR
Unconventional superconducting pairing symmetry induced by phonons
The possibility of non-s-wave superconductivity induced by phonons is
investigated using a simple model that is inspired by SrRuO. The model
assumes a two-dimensional electronic structure, a two-dimensional
spin-fluctuation spectrum, and three-dimensional electron-phonon coupling.
Taken separately, each interaction favors formation of spin-singlet pairs (of s
symmetry for the phonon interaction and d symmetry for the spin
interaction), but in combination, a variety of more unusual singlet and triplet
states are found, depending on the interaction parameters. This may have
important implications for SrRuO, providing a plausible explanation of
how the observed spin fluctuations, which clearly favor d pairing,
may still be instrumental in creating a superconducting state with a different
(e.g., p-wave) symmetry. It also suggests an interpretation of the large
isotope effect observed in SrRuO. These results indicate that phonons
could play a key role in establishing the order-parameter symmetry in
SrRuO, and possibly in other unconventional superconductors.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Quantum phase transition in ultrahigh mobility SiGe/Si/SiGe two-dimensional electron system
The metal-insulator transition (MIT) is an exceptional test bed for studying
strong electron correlations in two dimensions in the presence of disorder. In
the present study, it is found that in contrast to previous experiments on
lower-mobility samples, in ultra-high mobility SiGe/Si/SiGe quantum wells the
critical electron density, , of the MIT becomes smaller than the
density, , where the effective mass at the Fermi level tends to
diverge. Near the topological phase transition expected at , the
metallic temperature dependence of the resistance should be strengthened, which
is consistent with the experimental observation of more than an order of
magnitude resistance drop with decreasing temperature below K.Comment: Misprints corrected. As publishe
Machine-Learning Recognition of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction from Magnetometry
The Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), which is the antisymmetric part
of the exchange interaction between neighboring local spins, winds the spin
manifold and can stabilize non-trivial topological spin textures. Since
topology is a robust information carrier, characterization techniques that can
extract the DMI magnitude are important for the discovery and optimization of
spintronic materials. Existing experimental techniques for quantitative
determination of DMI, such as high-resolution magnetic imaging of spin textures
and measurement of magnon or transport properties, are time consuming and
require specialized instrumentation. Here we show that a convolutional neural
network can extract the DMI magnitude from minor hysteresis loops, or magnetic
"fingerprints" of a material. These hysteresis loops are readily available by
conventional magnetometry measurements. This provides a convenient tool to
investigate topological spin textures for next-generation information
processing
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