Normal and inverse spin-valve effect in organic semiconductor nanowires and the background monotonic magnetoresistance

We have observed both peaks and troughs in the magnetoresistance of organic nanowires consisting of three layers—cobalt, 8-hydroxy-quinolinolato aluminum (Alq3), and nickel. They always occur between the coercive fields of the ferromagnetic layers, and we attribute them to the normal and inverse spin-valve effect. The latter is caused by resonant tunneling through localized impurity states in the organic material. Peaks are always found to be accompanied by a positive monotonic background magnetoresistance, while troughs are accompanied by a negative monotonic background magnetoresistance. This curious correlation suggests that the background magnetoresistance, whose origin has hitherto remained unexplained, is probably caused by the recently proposed phenomenon of magnetic-field-induced enhancement of spin-flip scattering in the presence of spin-orbit interaction

Spin relaxation of "upstream" electrons in quantum wires: Failure of the drift diffusion model

The classical drift diffusion (DD) model of spin transport treats spin relaxation via an empirical parameter known as the ``spin diffusion length''. According to this model, the ensemble averaged spin of electrons drifting and diffusing in a solid decays exponentially with distance due to spin dephasing interactions. The characteristic length scale associated with this decay is the spin diffusion length. The DD model also predicts that this length is different for ``upstream'' electrons traveling in a decelerating electric field than for ``downstream'' electrons traveling in an accelerating field. However this picture ignores energy quantization in confined systems (e.g. quantum wires) and therefore fails to capture the non-trivial influence of subband structure on spin relaxation. Here we highlight this influence by simulating upstream spin transport in a multi-subband quantum wire, in the presence of D'yakonov-Perel' spin relaxation, using a semi-classical model that accounts for the subband structure rigorously. We find that upstream spin transport has a complex dynamics that defies the simplistic definition of a ``spin diffusion length''. In fact, spin does not decay exponentially or even monotonically with distance, and the drift diffusion picture fails to explain the qualitative behavior, let alone predict quantitative features accurately. Unrelated to spin transport, we also find that upstream electrons undergo a ``population inversion'' as a consequence of the energy dependence of the density of states in a quasi one-dimensional structure.Comment: 13 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

The inequality of charge and spin diffusion coefficients

Since spin and charge are both carried by electrons (or holes) in a solid, it is natural to assume that charge and spin diffusion coefficients will be the same. Drift-diffusion models of spin transport typically assume so. Here, we show analytically that the two diffusion coefficients can be vastly different in quantum wires. Although we do not consider quantum wells or bulk systems, it is likely that the two coefficients will be different in those systems as well. Thus, it is important to distinguish between them in transportmodels, particularly those applied to quantum wire based devices

Physics and Modeling of Submicron Devices

The work described in this report is directed at understanding transport physics in sub-micron heterostructure devices, at developing computational techniques for modeling such devices, and at applying these techniques to investigate new device concepts. The focus of the past year’s work has been on extending our collisionless, quantum device models to treat elastic scattering processes and at applying previously-developed models to the design and study of AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors. This report describes the past year’s progress in these two areas. As a by-product of the research, several heterostructure device models have been developed, 1- and 2-D equilibrium models, 1- and 2-D drift-diffusion models, a 1-D Monte Carlo simulator and a 1-D, collisionless quantum device model. These simulation programs are being applied to advanced device analysis at a number of laboratories and are available to SRC members on request

Width dependence of the 0.5 × (2e2/h) conductance plateau in InAs quantum point contacts in presence of lateral spin-orbit coupling

The evolution of the 0.5Go (Go = 2e2/h) conductance plateau and the accompanying hysteresis loop in a series of asymmetrically biased InAs based quantum point contacts (QPCs) in the presence of lateral spin-orbit coupling (LSOC) is studied using a number of QPCs with varying lithographic channel width but fixed channel length. It is found that the size of the hysteresis loops is larger for QPCs of smaller aspect ratio (QPC channel width/length) and gradually disappears as their aspect ratio increases. The physical mechanisms responsible for a decrease in size of the hysteresis loops for QPCs with increasing aspect ratio are: (1) multimode transport in QPCs with larger channel width leading to spin-flip scattering events due to both remote impurities in the doping layer of the heterostructure and surface roughness and impurity (dangling bond) scattering on the sidewalls of the narrow portion of the QPC, and (2) an increase in carrier density resulting in a screening of the electron-electron interactions in the QPC channel. Both effects lead to a progressive disappearance of the net spin polarization in the QPC channel and an accompanying reduction in the size of the hysteresis loops as the lithographic width of the QPC channel increases

Electron Spin for Classical Information Processing: A Brief Survey of Spin-Based Logic Devices, Gates and Circuits

In electronics, information has been traditionally stored, processed and communicated using an electron's charge. This paradigm is increasingly turning out to be energy-inefficient, because movement of charge within an information-processing device invariably causes current flow and an associated dissipation. Replacing charge with the "spin" of an electron to encode information may eliminate much of this dissipation and lead to more energy-efficient "green electronics". This realization has spurred significant research in spintronic devices and circuits where spin either directly acts as the physical variable for hosting information or augments the role of charge. In this review article, we discuss and elucidate some of these ideas, and highlight their strengths and weaknesses. Many of them can potentially reduce energy dissipation significantly, but unfortunately are error-prone and unreliable. Moreover, there are serious obstacles to their technological implementation that may be difficult to overcome in the near term. This review addresses three constructs: (1) single devices or binary switches that can be constituents of Boolean logic gates for digital information processing, (2) complete gates that are capable of performing specific Boolean logic operations, and (3) combinational circuits or architectures (equivalent to many gates working in unison) that are capable of performing universal computation.Comment: Topical Revie