148 research outputs found
Manifestation of the shape and edge effects in spin-resolved transport through graphene quantum dots
We report on theoretical studies of transport through graphene quantum dots
weakly coupled to external ferromagnetic leads. The calculations are performed
by exact diagonalization of a tight-binding Hamiltonian with finite Coulomb
correlations for graphene sheet and by using the real-time diagrammatic
technique in the sequential and cotunneling regimes. The emphasis is put on the
role of graphene flake shape and spontaneous edge magnetization in transport
characteristics, such as the differential conductance, tunneling
magnetoresistance (TMR) and the shot noise. It is shown that for certain shapes
of the graphene dots a negative differential conductance and nontrivial
behavior of the TMR effect can occur
The Overlapping Muffin-Tin Approximation
We present the formalism and demonstrate the use of the overlapping
muffin-tin approximation (OMTA). This fits a full potential to a superposition
of spherically symmetric short-ranged potential wells plus a constant. For
one-electron potentials of this form, the standard multiple-scattering methods
can solve Schr\"{o}dingers' equation correctly to 1st order in the potential
overlap. Choosing an augmented-plane-wave method as the source of the full
potential, we illustrate the procedure for diamond-structured Si. First, we
compare the potential in the Si-centered OMTA with the full potential, and then
compare the corresponding OMTA -th order muffin-tin orbital and
full-potential LAPW band structures. We find that the two latter agree
qualitatively for a wide range of overlaps and that the valence bands have an
rms deviation of 20 meV/electron for 30% radial overlap. Smaller overlaps give
worse potentials and larger overlaps give larger 2nd-order errors of the
multiple-scattering method. To further remove the mean error of the bands for
small overlaps is simple.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures Proceedings of The European Conference "Physics of
Magnetism 2008", Poznan, Polan
Multiplet ligand-field theory using Wannier orbitals
We demonstrate how ab initio cluster calculations including the full Coulomb
vertex can be done in the basis of the localized, generalized Wannier orbitals
which describe the low-energy density functional (LDA) band structure of the
infinite crystal, e.g. the transition metal 3d and oxygen 2p orbitals. The
spatial extend of our 3d Wannier orbitals (orthonormalized Nth order muffin-tin
orbitals) is close to that found for atomic Hartree-Fock orbitals. We define
Ligand orbitals as those linear combinations of the O 2p Wannier orbitals which
couple to the 3d orbitals for the chosen cluster. The use of ligand orbitals
allows for a minimal Hilbert space in multiplet ligand-field theory
calculations, thus reducing the computational costs substantially. The result
is a fast and simple ab initio theory, which can provide useful information
about local properties of correlated insulators. We compare results for NiO,
MnO and SrTiO3 with x-ray absorption, inelastic x-ray scattering, and
photoemission experiments. The multiplet ligand field theory parameters found
by our ab initio method agree within ~10% to known experimental values
First-principles study of magnetization relaxation enhancement and spin-transfer in thin magnetic films
The interface-induced magnetization damping of thin ferromagnetic films in
contact with normal-metal layers is calculated from first principles for clean
and disordered Fe/Au and Co/Cu interfaces. Interference effects arising from
coherent scattering turn out to be very small, consistent with a very small
magnetic coherence length. Because the mixing conductances which govern the
spin transfer are to a good approximation real valued, the spin pumping can be
described by an increased Gilbert damping factor but an unmodified gyromagnetic
ratio. The results also confirm that the spin-current induced magnetization
torque is an interface effect.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX; modified according to Referees' request
Spin-injection through an Fe/InAs Interface
The spin-dependence of the interface resistance between ferromagnetic Fe and
InAs is calculated from first-principles for specular and disordered (001)
interfaces. Because of the symmetry mismatch in the minority-spin channel, the
specular interface acts as an efficient spin filter with a transmitted current
polarisation between 98 an 89%.
The resistance of a specular interface in the diffusive regime is comparable
to the resistance of a few microns of bulk InAs.
Symmetry-breaking arising from interface disorder reduces the spin asymmetry
substantially and we conclude that efficient spin injection from Fe into InAs
can only be realized using high quality epitaxial interfaces.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Spin accumulation and decay in magnetic Schottky barriers
The theory of charge and spin transport in forward-biased Schottky barriers reveals characteristic and experimentally relevant features. The conductivity mismatch is found to enhance the current-induced spin imbalance in the semiconductor. The GaAs¿MnAs interface resistance is obtained from an analysis of the magnetic-field-dependent Kerr rotation experiments by Stephens et al. and compared with first-principles calculations for intrinsic interfaces. With increasing current bias, the interface transparency grows toward the theoretical values, reflecting increasingly efficient Schottky barrier screening
Perpendicular transport and magnetization processes in magnetic multilayers with strongly and weakly coupled magnetic layers
Within the framework of a two-band tight-binding model, we have performed
calculations of giant magnetoresistance, exchange coupling and thermoelectric
power (TEP) for a system consisting of three magnetic layers separated by two
non-magnetic spacers with the first two magnetic layers strongly
antiferromagnetically exchange-coupled. We have shown how does the GMR relate
with the corresponding regions of magnetic structure phase diagrams and
computed some relevant hysteresis loops, too. The GMR may take negative values
for specific layers thicknesses, and the TEP reveals quite pronounced
oscillations around a negative bias.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, submited to Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic
Material
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