Modulation of pure spin currents with a ferromagnetic insulator

We propose and demonstrate spin manipulation by magnetically controlled modulation of pure spin currents in cobalt/copper lateral spin valves, fabricated on top of the magnetic insulator Y$_3$Fe$_5$O$_{12}$ (YIG). The direction of the YIG magnetization can be controlled by a small magnetic field. We observe a clear modulation of the non-local resistance as a function of the orientation of the YIG magnetization with respect to the polarization of the spin current. Such a modulation can only be explained by assuming a finite spin-mixing conductance at the Cu/YIG interface, as it follows from the solution of the spin-diffusion equation. These results open a new path towards the development of spin logics.Comment: 5 pages and 4 figures + supplemental material (10 pages, 7 figures

Synthesis, Characterization, Fluorescence Properties, and DFT Modeling of Difluoroboron Biindolediketonates

We report a simple and efficient strategy to enhance the fluorescence of biocompatible biindole diketonates (bdks) in the visible spectrum through difluoroboronation (BF2bdks complexes). Emission spectroscopy testifies an increase in the fluorescence quantum yields from a few percent to as much as >0.7. This massive increment is essentially independent of substitutions at the indole (-H, -Cl, and -OCH3) and corresponds to a significant stabilization of the excited state with respect to non-radiative decay mechanisms: the non-radiative decay rates are reduced by as much as an order of magnitude, from 109 s−1 to 108 s−1, upon difluoroboronation. The stabilization of the excited state is large enough to enable sizeable 1O2 photosensitized production. Different time-dependent (TD) density functional theory (DFT) methods were assessed in their ability to model the electronic properties of the compounds, with TD-B3LYP-D3 providing the most accurate excitation energies. The calculations associate the first active optical transition in both the bdks and BF2bdks electronic spectra to the S0 → S1 transition, corresponding to a shift in the electronic density from the indoles to the oxygens or the O-BF2-O unit, respectively

Thermo-mechanical behavior of surface acoustic waves in ordered arrays of nanodisks studied by near infrared pump-probe diffraction experiments

The ultrafast thermal and mechanical dynamics of a two-dimensional lattice of metallic nano-disks has been studied by near infrared pump-probe diffraction measurements, over a temporal range spanning from 100 fs to several nanoseconds. The experiments demonstrate that, in these systems, a two-dimensional surface acoustic wave (2DSAW), with a wavevector given by the reciprocal periodicity of the array, can be excited by ~120 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulses. In order to clarify the interaction between the nanodisks and the substrate, numerical calculations of the elastic eigenmodes and simulations of the thermodynamics of the system are developed through finite-element analysis. At this light, we unambiguously show that the observed 2DSAW velocity shift originates from the mechanical interaction between the 2DSAWs and the nano-disks, while the correlated 2DSAW damping is due to the energy radiation into the substrate.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

C60/NiFe combination as a promising platform for molecular spintronics

Spintronics based on ferromagnetic metals and organic semiconductors has attracted great interest in recent years. Molecular-based spintronic devices, such as magnetic tunnel junctions, have been demonstrated with performances competing with those of conventional inorganic devices. Still, there is huge margin for improvement, as many details about the injection of spin-polarized electrons into the molecular layer remain not completely understood. In order to achieve better understanding and control of the physical mechanisms, it is necessary to explore various combinations of ferromagnetic metals and organic semiconductors. In this letter, we study the properties of the combination between the ferromagnetic metal NiFe (commonly known as Permalloy or Py) and the molecular system C60. We produced C60/Py bilayers and characterized them structurally, electrically and magnetically. The C 60 films grow smoothly on both Py and SiO2 substrates, and we estimate that a 5-nm-thick C60 film covers completely the surface underneath without leaving pinholes and can be therefore used in a vertical device, as confirmed by electrical characterization. Furthermore, the C 60 film is robust against the deposition of the top metal electrode, being the intermixing layer of only 1-2 nm at the C60/Py interface. Finally, we show that the magnetic properties of Py are not affected by the deposition sequence, and that a 5-nm-thick Py layer on top of a C60 layer keeps its magnetic properties intact. These results show that the combination between Py and C60 provides a robust template platform for the development of molecular spintronics, and can be used later on for more sophisticated investigations, such as the role of the interfaces in the spin injection.Fil: Gobbi, M.. No especifíca;Fil: Pascual, A.. No especifíca;Fil: Golmar, Federico. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Llopis, R.. No especifíca;Fil: Vavassori, P.. No especifíca;Fil: Casanova, F.. No especifíca;Fil: Hueso, L. E.. No especifíca

Magnetoplasmonic design rules for active magneto-optics

Light polarization rotators and non-reciprocal optical isolators are essential building blocks in photonics technology. These macroscopic passive devices are commonly based on magneto-optical Faraday and Kerr polarization rotation. Magnetoplasmonics - the combination of magnetism and plasmonics - is a promising route to bring these devices to the nanoscale. We introduce design rules for highly tunable active magnetoplasmonic elements in which we can tailor the amplitude and sign of the Kerr response over a broad spectral range

Absence of stable collinear configurations in Ni(001)ultrathin films: canted domain structure as ground state

Brillouin light scattering (BLS) measurements were performed for (17-120) Angstrom thick Cu/Ni/Cu/Si(001) films. A monotonic dependence of the frequency of the uniform mode on an in-plane magnetic field H was observed both on increasing and on decreasing H in the range (2-14) kOe, suggesting the absence of a metastable collinear perpendicular ground state. Further investigation by magneto-optical vector magnetometry (MOKE-VM) in an unconventional canted-field geometry provided evidence for a domain structure where the magnetization is canted with respect to the perpendicular to the film. Spin wave calculations confirm the absence of stable collinear configurations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures (text, appendix and 1 figure added

Negative magnetic relaxation in superconductors

It was observed that the trapped magnetic moment of HTS tablets or annuli increases in time (negative relaxation) if they are not completely magnetized by a pulsed magnetic field. It is shown, in the framework of the Bean critical-state model, that the radial temperature gradient appearing in tablets or annuli during a pulsed field magnetization can explain the negative magnetic relaxation in the superconductor

Experimental and theoretical analysis of Landauer erasure in nanomagnetic switches of different sizes

The authors acknowledge support by the European Union (FPVII (2007-2013) under G.A. n.318287 LANDAUER, and by MIUR-PRIN 2010–11 Project 2010ECA8P3 “DyNanoMag.”. M.P. and P.V. acknowledge funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Project No. MAT2012-36844); M.P. acknowledges support by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant BES-2013-063690).Bistable nanomagnetic switches are extensively used in storage media and magnetic memories, associating each logic state to a different equilibrium orientation of the magnetization. Here we consider the issue of the minimum energy required to change the information content of nanomagnetic switches, a crucial topic to face fundamental challenges of current technology, such as power dissipation and limits of scaling. The energy dissipated during a reset operation, also known as “Landauer erasure”, has been accurately measured at room temperature by vectorial magneto-optical measurements in arrays of elongated Permalloy nanodots. Both elliptical and rectangular dots were analysed, with lateral sizes ranging from several hundreds to a few tens of nanometers and thickness of either 10 nm or 5 nm. The experimental results show a nearly linear decrease of the dissipated energy with the dot volume, ranging from three to one orders of magnitude above the theoretical Landauer limit of kBT×ln(2). These experimental findings are corroborated by micromagnetic simulations showing that the significant deviations from the ideal macrospin behavior are caused by both inhomogeneous magnetization distribution and edge effects, leading to an average produced heat which is appreciably larger than that expected for ideal nanoswitches.PostprintPeer reviewe