2,316 research outputs found
Spin and charge transport in graphene-based spin transport devices with Co/MgO spin injection and spin detection electrodes
In this review we discuss spin and charge transport properties in
graphene-based single-layer and few-layer spin-valve devices. We give an
overview of challenges and recent advances in the field of device fabrication
and discuss two of our fabrication methods in more detail which result in
distinctly different device performances. In the first class of devices, Co/MgO
electrodes are directly deposited onto graphene which results in rough
MgO-to-Co interfaces and favor the formation of conducting pinholes throughout
the MgO layer. We show that the contact resistance area product (RA) is a
benchmark for spin transport properties as it scales with the measured spin
lifetime in these devices indicating that contact-induced spin dephasing is the
bottleneck for spin transport even in devices with large RA values. In a
second class of devices, Co/MgO electrodes are first patterned onto a silicon
substrate. Subsequently, a graphene-hBN heterostructure is directly transferred
onto these prepatterned electrodes which provides improved interface
properties. This is seen by a strong enhancement of both charge and spin
transport properties yielding charge carrier mobilities exceeding 20000
cm/(Vs) and spin lifetimes up to 3.7 ns at room temperature. We discuss
several shortcomings in the determination of both quantities which complicates
the analysis of both extrinsic and intrinsic spin scattering mechanisms.
Furthermore, we show that contacts can be the origin of a second charge
neutrality point in gate dependent resistance measurements which is influenced
by the quantum capacitance of the underlying graphene layer.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
Imaging Localized States in Graphene Nanostructures
Probing techniques with spatial resolution have the potential to lead to a
better understanding of the microscopic physical processes and to novel routes
for manipulating nanostructures. We present scanning-gate images of a graphene
quantum dot which is coupled to source and drain via two constrictions. We
image and locate conductance resonances of the quantum dot in the
Coulomb-blockade regime as well as resonances of localized states in the
constrictions in real space.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure
Inter-valley dark trion states with spin lifetimes of 150 ns in WSe
We demonstrate long trion spin lifetimes in a WSe monolayer of up to 150
ns at 5 K. Applying a transverse magnetic field in time-resolved Kerr-rotation
measurements reveals a complex composition of the spin signal of up to four
distinct components. The Kerr rotation signal can be well described by a model
which includes inhomogeneous spin dephasing and by setting the trion spin
lifetimes to the measured excitonic recombination times extracted from
time-resolved reflectivity measurements. We observe a continuous shift of the
Kerr resonance with the probe energy, which can be explained by an
adsorbate-induced, inhomogeneous potential landscape of the WSe flake. A
further indication of extrinsic effects on the spin dynamics is given by a
change of both the trion spin lifetime and the distribution of g-factors over
time. Finally, we detect a Kerr rotation signal from the trion's higher-energy
triplet state when the lower-energy singlet state is optically pumped by
circularly polarized light. We explain this by the formation of dark trion
states, which are also responsible for the observed long trion spin lifetimes.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure
Contact-induced charge contributions to non-local spin transport measurements in Co/MgO/graphene devices
Recently, it has been shown that oxide barriers in graphene-based non-local
spin-valve structures can be the bottleneck for spin transport. The barriers
may cause spin dephasing during or right after electrical spin injection which
limit spin transport parameters such as the spin lifetime of the whole device.
An important task is to evaluate the quality of the oxide barriers of both spin
injection and detection contacts in a fabricated device. To address this issue,
we discuss the influence of spatially inhomogeneous oxide barriers and
especially conducting pinholes within the barrier on the background signal in
non-local measurements of graphene/MgO/Co spin-valve devices. By both
simulations and reference measurements on devices with non-ferromagnetic
electrodes, we demonstrate that the background signal can be caused by
inhomogeneous current flow through the oxide barriers. As a main result, we
demonstrate the existence of charge accumulation next to the actual spin
accumulation signal in non-local voltage measurements, which can be explained
by a redistribution of charge carriers by a perpendicular magnetic field
similar to the classical Hall effect. Furthermore, we present systematic
studies on the phase of the low frequency non-local ac voltage signal which is
measured in non-local spin measurements when applying ac lock-in techniques.
This phase has so far widely been neglected in the analysis of non-local spin
transport. We demonstrate that this phase is another hallmark of the
homogeneity of the MgO spin injection and detection barriers. We link backgate
dependent changes of the phase to the interplay between the capacitance of the
oxide barrier to the quantum capacitance of graphene.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure
Interplay between nanometer-scale strain variations and externally applied strain in graphene
We present a molecular modeling study analyzing nanometer-scale strain
variations in graphene as a function of externally applied tensile strain. We
consider two different mechanisms that could underlie nanometer-scale strain
variations: static perturbations from lattice imperfections of an underlying
substrate and thermal fluctuations. For both cases we observe a decrease in the
out-of-plane atomic displacements with increasing strain, which is accompanied
by an increase in the in-plane displacements. Reflecting the non-linear elastic
properties of graphene, both trends together yield a non-monotonic variation of
the total displacements with increasing tensile strain. This variation allows
to test the role of nanometer-scale strain variations in limiting the carrier
mobility of high-quality graphene samples
Impact of Many-Body Effects on Landau Levels in Graphene
We present magneto-Raman spectroscopy measurements on suspended graphene to
investigate the charge carrier density-dependent electron-electron interaction
in the presence of Landau levels. Utilizing gate-tunable magneto-phonon
resonances, we extract the charge carrier density dependence of the Landau
level transition energies and the associated effective Fermi velocity
. In contrast to the logarithmic divergence of at
zero magnetic field, we find a piecewise linear scaling of as a
function of charge carrier density, due to a magnetic field-induced suppression
of the long-range Coulomb interaction. We quantitatively confirm our
experimental findings by performing tight-binding calculations on the level of
the Hartree-Fock approximation, which also allow us to estimate an excitonic
binding energy of 6 meV contained in the experimentally extracted
Landau level transitions energies.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Cable Extraction of Harvester-Felled Thinnings: An Austrian Case Study
A time study of the cable extraction of thinnings in short corridors was carried out in the Neuberg an der Mürz forest area, Austria. Both the yarder and the choker-setter(s) were studied. Six options were compared. For the "standard" option the timber was felled, cut to length, and pre-bunched by the harvester on a 20-meter-wide corridor, and was yarded downhill. Two choker-setters were employed. The five variations included: (1) "larger" bundles, (2) in-creased lateral hauling distance, (3) one choker-setter, (4) the harvester cutting-to-stem length and the timber yarded uphill with only one choker setter, and (5) trees in a 30-meter-wide corridor felled and bucked by motor-manual methods. The harvester used was a Skogsjan 687 XL with a 601 head; the medium-sized yarder was a Syncrofalke with a Sherpa U3 carriage.
The time study results showed that the corridors felled and cut to length by the harvester, in comparison to the motor-manually cut corridor, provided a significant improvement in the cable extraction cycle times: 3.7 min compared to 4.6 min. Additionally, an average turn volume increase of 26% was achieved by the improved presentation of the timber. A 20-meter lateral-hauling distance increased the cycle time by only 7%. The use of one choker-setter increased the delay-free cycle time by just 10%, however it significantly decreased the work-related waiting time for the choker-setter to just 5%. Uphill stem extraction using one choker-setter had the same cycle time as the downhill cut-to-length extraction using two choker-setters, although a 5% greater average turn volume was recorded
Coulomb oscillations in three-layer graphene nanostructures
We present transport measurements on a tunable three-layer graphene single
electron transistor (SET). The device consists of an etched three-layer
graphene flake with two narrow constrictions separating the island from source
and drain contacts. Three lateral graphene gates are used to electrostatically
tune the device. An individual three-layer graphene constriction has been
investigated separately showing a transport gap near the charge neutrality
point. The graphene tunneling barriers show a strongly nonmonotonic coupling as
function of gate voltage indicating the presence of localized states in the
constrictions. We show Coulomb oscillations and Coulomb diamond measurements
proving the functionality of the graphene SET. A charging energy of meV is extracted.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Local gating of a graphene Hall bar by graphene side gates
We have investigated the magnetotransport properties of a single-layer
graphene Hall bar with additional graphene side gates. The side gating in the
absence of a magnetic field can be modeled by considering two parallel
conducting channels within the Hall bar. This results in an average penetration
depth of the side gate created field of approx. 90 nm. The side gates are also
effective in the quantum Hall regime, and allow to modify the longitudinal and
Hall resistances
Fabrication of comb-drive actuators for straining nanostructured suspended graphene
We report on the fabrication and characterization of an optimized comb-drive
actuator design for strain-dependent transport measurements on suspended
graphene. We fabricate devices from highly p-doped silicon using deep reactive
ion etching with a chromium mask. Crucially, we implement a gold layer to
reduce the device resistance from k to
at room temperature in order to allow for
strain-dependent transport measurements. The graphene is integrated by
mechanically transferring it directly onto the actuator using a
polymethylmethacrylate membrane. Importantly, the integrated graphene can be
nanostructured afterwards to optimize device functionality. The minimum feature
size of the structured suspended graphene is 30 nm, which allows for
interesting device concepts such as mechanically-tunable nanoconstrictions.
Finally, we characterize the fabricated devices by measuring the Raman spectrum
as well as the a mechanical resonance frequency of an integrated graphene sheet
for different strain values.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
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