Enhanced spin accumulation at room temperature in graphene spin valves with amorphous carbon interfacial layers

We demonstrate a large enhancement of the spin accumulation in monolayer graphene following electron-beam induced deposition of an amorphous carbon layer at the ferromagnet-graphene interface. The enhancement is 10^4-fold when graphene is deposited onto poly(methyl metacrylate) (PMMA) and exposed with sufficient electron-beam dose to cross-link the PMMA, and 10^3-fold when graphene is deposited directly onto SiO2 and exposed with identical dose. We attribute the difference to a more efficient carbon deposition in the former case due to an increase in the presence of compounds containing carbon, which are released by the PMMA. The amorphous carbon interface can sustain very large current densities without degrading, which leads to very large spin accumulations exceeding 500 microeVs at room temperature

All Magnesium diboride Josephson Junctions with MgO and native oxide barriers

We present results on all-MgB2 tunnel junctions, where the tunnel barrier is deposited MgO or native-oxide of base electrode. For the junctions with MgO, the hysteretic I-V curve resembles a conventional underdamped Josephson junction characteristic with critical current-resistance product nearly independent of the junction area. The dependence of the critical current with temperature up to 20 K agrees with the [Ambegaokar and Baratoff, Phys. Rev. Lett. 10, 486 (1963)] expression. For the junctions with native-oxide, conductance at low bias exhibits subgap features while at high bias reveals thick barriers. As a result no supercurrent was observed in the latter, despite the presence of superconducting-gaps to over 30 K.Comment: 8 pages with 3 figure

Fingerprints of Inelastic Transport at the Surface of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3: Role of Electron-Phonon Coupling

We report on electric-field and temperature dependent transport measurements in exfoliated thin crystals of Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ topological insulator. At low temperatures ($< 50$ K) and when the chemical potential lies inside the bulk gap, the crystal resistivity is strongly temperature dependent, reflecting inelastic scattering due to the thermal activation of optical phonons. A linear increase of the current with voltage is obtained up to a threshold value at which current saturation takes place. We show that the activated behavior, the voltage threshold and the saturation current can all be quantitatively explained by considering a single optical phonon mode with energy $\hbar \Omega \approx 8$ meV. This phonon mode strongly interacts with the surface states of the material and represents the dominant source of scattering at the surface at high electric fields.Comment: Supplementary Material at: http://journals.aps.org/prl/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.086601/TIPhonon_SM.pd

Spin precession and spin Hall effect in monolayer graphene/Pt nanostructures

Spin Hall effects have surged as promising phenomena for spin logics operations without ferromagnets. However, the magnitude of the detected electric signals at room temperature in metallic systems has been so far underwhelming. Here, we demonstrate a two-order of magnitude enhancement of the signal in monolayer graphene/Pt devices when compared to their fully metallic counterparts. The enhancement stems in part from efficient spin injection and the large resistivity of graphene but we also observe 100% spin absorption in Pt and find an unusually large effective spin Hall angle of up to 0.15. The large spin-to-charge conversion allows us to characterise spin precession in graphene under the presence of a magnetic field. Furthermore, by developing an analytical model based on the 1D diffusive spin-transport, we demonstrate that the effective spin-relaxation time in graphene can be accurately determined using the (inverse) spin Hall effect as a means of detection. This is a necessary step to gather full understanding of the consequences of spin absorption in spin Hall devices, which is known to suppress effective spin lifetimes in both metallic and graphene systems.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures. Accepted in 2D Materials. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/aa882

Large cone angle magnetization precession of an individual nanomagnet with dc electrical detection

We demonstrate on-chip resonant driving of large cone-angle magnetization precession of an individual nanoscale permalloy element. Strong driving is realized by locating the element in close proximity to the shorted end of a coplanar strip waveguide, which generates a microwave magnetic field. We used a microwave frequency modulation method to accurately measure resonant changes of the dc anisotropic magnetoresistance. Precession cone angles up to $9^{0}$ are determined with better than one degree of resolution. The resonance peak shape is well-described by the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation

A Case of Ciliate Protozoa Colpoda Spp. (Ciliata: Colpodidae) Detected In Human Urine

In the urine of a patient with chronic prostatitis, renal microlithiasis and acute cystitis we found the ciliate protozoa Colpoda spp., both in vegetative and cystic form. The entry point was most likely the urinary tract. Keeping in mind that only four more cases of Colpoda spp. existent in human urine have already been described, and that in the case of our patient the ciliate was present at repeated examinations of his urine, we presumed that it is not only a spurious infection of the urogenital tract. It still remains to be analyzed whether this ciliate belongs to a species of Colpoda adapted to parasitism in homeothermae and whether it can be pathogenic for humans

Electrical detection of spin pumping: dc voltage generated by ferromagnetic resonance at ferromagnet/nonmagnet contact

We describe electrical detection of spin pumping in metallic nanostructures. In the spin pumping effect, a precessing ferromagnet attached to a normal-metal acts as a pump of spin-polarized current, giving rise to a spin accumulation. The resulting spin accumulation induces a backflow of spin current into the ferromagnet and generates a dc voltage due to the spin dependent conductivities of the ferromagnet. The magnitude of such voltage is proportional to the spin-relaxation properties of the normal-metal. By using platinum as a contact material we observe, in agreement with theory, that the voltage is significantly reduced as compared to the case when aluminum was used. Furtheremore, the effects of rectification between the circulating rf currents and the magnetization precession of the ferromagnet are examined. Most significantly, we show that using an improved layout device geometry these effects can be minimized.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure

Spin communication over 30 μ\mum long channels of chemical vapor deposited graphene on SiO2_2

We demonstrate a high-yield fabrication of non-local spin valve devices with room-temperature spin lifetimes of up to 3 ns and spin relaxation lengths as long as 9 $\mu$m in platinum-based chemical vapor deposition (Pt-CVD) synthesized single-layer graphene on SiO$_2$/Si substrates. The spin-lifetime systematically presents a marked minimum at the charge neutrality point, as typically observed in pristine exfoliated graphene. However, by studying the carrier density dependence beyond n ~ 5 x 10$^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$, via electrostatic gating, it is found that the spin lifetime reaches a maximum and then starts decreasing, a behavior that is reminiscent of that predicted when the spin-relaxation is driven by spin-orbit interaction. The spin lifetimes and relaxation lengths compare well with state-of-the-art results using exfoliated graphene on SiO$_2$/Si, being a factor two-to-three larger than the best values reported at room temperature using the same substrate. As a result, the spin signal can be readily measured across 30 $\mu$m long graphene channels. These observations indicate that Pt-CVD graphene is a promising material for large-scale spin-based logic-in-memory applications

Hot-Carrier Seebeck Effect: Diffusion and Remote Detection of Hot Carriers in Graphene

We investigate hot carrier propagation across graphene using an electrical nonlocal injection/detection method. The device consists of a monolayer graphene flake contacted by multiple metal leads. Using two remote leads for electrical heating, we generate a carrier temperature gradient that results in a measurable thermoelectric voltage VNL across the remaining (detector) leads. Due to the nonlocal character of the measurement, VNL is exclusively due to the Seebeck effect. Remarkably, a departure from the ordinary relationship between Joule power P and VNL, VNL ~ P, becomes readily apparent at low temperatures, representing a fingerprint of hot-carrier dominated thermoelectricity. By studying VNL as a function of bias, we directly determine the carrier temperature and the characteristic cooling length for hot-carrier propagation, which are key parameters for a variety of new applications that rely on hot-carrier transport

Electrical detection of spin pumping due to the precessing magnetization of a single ferromagnet

We report direct electrical detection of spin pumping, using a lateral normal metal/ferromagnet/normal metal device, where a single ferromagnet in ferromagnetic resonance pumps spin polarized electrons into the normal metal, resulting in spin accumulation. The resulting backflow of spin current into the ferromagnet generates a d.c. voltage due to the spin dependent conductivities of the ferromagnet. By comparing different contact materials (Al and /or Pt), we find, in agreement with theory, that the spin related properties of the normal metal dictate the magnitude of the d.c. voltage