158 research outputs found
Spin injection and spin accumulation in permalloy-copper mesoscopic spin valves
We study the electrical injection and detection of spin currents in a lateral
spin valve device, using permalloy (Py) as ferromagnetic injecting and
detecting electrodes and copper (Cu) as non-magnetic metal. Our multi-terminal
geometry allows us to experimentally distinguish different magneto resistance
signals, being 1) the spin valve effect, 2) the anomalous magneto resistance
(AMR) effect and 3) Hall effects. We find that the AMR contribution of the Py
contacts can be much bigger than the amplitude of the spin valve effect, making
it impossible to observe the spin valve effect in a 'conventional' measurement
geometry. However, these 'contact' magneto resistance signals can be used to
monitor the magnetization reversal process, making it possible to determine the
magnetic switching fields of the Py contacts of the spin valve device. In a
'non local' spin valve measurement we are able to completely isolate the spin
valve signal and observe clear spin accumulation signals at T=4.2 K as well as
at room temperature. We obtain spin diffusion lengths in copper of 1 micrometer
and 350 nm at T=4.2 K and room temperature respectively.Comment: 8 pages (incl. figures), 7 figures, RevTex, conferenc
Spin accumulation probed in multiterminal lateral all-metallic devices
We study spin accumulation in an aluminium island, in which the injection of
a spin current and the detection of the spin accumulation are done by means of
four cobalt electrodes that connect to the island through transparent tunnel
barriers. Although the four electrodes are designed as two electrode pairs of
the same shape, they nonetheless all exhibit distinct switching fields. As a
result the device can have several different magnetic configurations. From the
measurements of the amplitude of the spin accumulation, we can identify these
configurations, and using the diffusion equation for the spin imbalance, we
extract the spin relaxation length ~nm and an
interface spin current polarization at low temperature and
~nm, at room temperature
Current distribution inside Py/Cu lateral spin-valve device
We have investigated experimentally the non-local voltage signal (NLVS) in
the lateral permalloy (Py)/Cu/Py spin valve devices with different width of Cu
stripes. We found that NLVS strongly depends on the distribution of the
spin-polarized current inside Cu strip in the vicinity of the Py-detector. To
explain these data we have developed a diffusion model describing spatial (3D)
distribution of the spin-polarized current in the device. The results of our
calculations show that NLVS is decreased by factor of 10 due to spin
flip-scattering occurring at Py/Cu interface. The interface resistivity on
Py/Cu interface is also present, but its contribution to reduction of NLVS is
minor. We also found that most of the spin-polarized current is injected within
the region 30 nm from Py-injector/Cu interface. In the area at Py-detector/Cu
interface, the spin-polarized current is found to flow mainly close on the
injector side, with 1/e exponential decay in the magnitude within the distance
80 nm.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure
Direct demonstration of decoupling of spin and charge currents in nanostructures
The notion of decoupling of spin and charge currents is one of the basic
principles underlying the rapidly expanding feld of Spintronics. However, no
direct demonstration of the phenomenon exists. We report a novel measurement,
in which a non-equilibrium spin population is created by a point-like injection
of current from a ferromagnet across a tunnel barrier into a one dimensional
spin channel, and detected differentially by a pair of ferromagnetic electrodes
placed symmetrically about the injection point. We demonstrate that the spin
current is strictly isotropic about the injection point and, therefore,
completely decoupled from the uni-directional charge current.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Nano Letter
Spin resolved Andreev reflection in ferromagnet-superconductor junctions with Zeeman splitting
Andreev reflection in ferromagnet-superconductor junctions is derived in a
regime in which Zeeman splitting dominates the response of the superconductor
to an applied magnetic field. Spin-up and spin-down Andreev reflections are
shown to be resolved as voltage is increased. In the metallic limit, the
transition from Andreev to tunnel conductivity in the spin-up channels has a
non trivial behavior when spin polarization is increased. The conductance is
asymmetric in a voltage reversal.Comment: RevTex. 13 pages. 3 figures include
Spin relaxation in mesoscopic superconducting Al wires
We studied the diffusion and the relaxation of the polarized quasiparticle
spins in superconductors. To that end, quasiparticles of polarized spins were
injected through an interface of a mesoscopic superconducting Al wire in
proximity contact with an overlaid ferromagnetic Co wire in the single-domain
state. The superconductivity was observed to be suppressed near the
spin-injecting interface, as evidenced by the occurrence of a finite voltage
for a bias current below the onset of the superconducting transition. The spin
diffusion length, estimated from finite voltages over a certain length of Al
wire near the interface, was almost temperature independent in the temperature
range sufficiently below the superconducting transition but grew as the
transition temperature was approached. This temperature dependence suggests
that the relaxation of the spin polarization in the superconducting state is
governed by the condensation of quasiparticles to the paired state. The spin
relaxation in the superconducting state turned out to be more effective than in
the normal state.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Spin injection and spin accumulation in all-metal mesoscopic spin valves
We study the electrical injection and detection of spin accumulation in
lateral ferromagnetic metal-nonmagnetic metal-ferromagnetic metal (F/N/F) spin
valve devices with transparent interfaces. Different ferromagnetic metals,
permalloy (Py), cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni), are used as electrical spin
injectors and detectors. For the nonmagnetic metal both aluminium (Al) and
copper (Cu) are used. Our multi-terminal geometry allows us to experimentally
separate the spin valve effect from other magneto resistance signals such as
the anomalous magneto resistance (AMR) and Hall effects. We find that the AMR
contribution of the ferromagnetic contacts can dominate the amplitude of the
spin valve effect, making it impossible to observe the spin valve effect in a
'conventional' measurement geometry. In a 'non local' spin valve measurement we
are able to completely isolate the spin valve signal and observe clear spin
accumulation signals at T=4.2 K as well as at room temperature (RT). For
aluminum we obtain spin relaxation lengths (lambda_{sf}) of 1.2 mu m and 600 nm
at T=4.2 K and RT respectively, whereas for copper we obtain 1.0 mu m and 350
nm. The spin relaxation times tau_{sf} in Al and Cu are compared with theory
and results obtained from giant magneto resistance (GMR), conduction electron
spin resonance (CESR), anti-weak localization and superconducting tunneling
experiments. The spin valve signals generated by the Py electrodes (alpha_F
lambda_F=0.5 [1.2] nm at RT [T=4.2 K]) are larger than the Co electrodes
(alpha_F lambda_F=0.3 [0.7] nm at RT [T=4.2 K]), whereas for Ni (alpha_F
lambda_F<0.3 nm at RT and T=4.2 K) no spin signal is observed. These values are
compared to the results obtained from GMR experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, submitted to PR
Sign of the crossed conductances at a FSF double interface
Crossed conductance in hybrid Ferromagnet / Superconductor / Ferromagnet
(FSF) structures results from the competition between normal transmission and
Andreev reflection channels. Crossed Andreev reflection (CAR) and elastic
cotunneling (EC) between the ferromagnets are dressed by local Andreev
reflections, which play an important role for transparent enough interfaces and
intermediate spin polarizations. This modifies the simple result previously
obtained at lowest order, and can explain the sign of the crossed resistances
in a recent experiment [D. Beckmann {\sl et al.}, cond-mat/0404360]. This holds
both in the multiterminal hybrid structure model (where phase averaging over
the Fermi oscillations is introduced ``by hand'' within the approximation of a
single non local process) and for infinite planar interfaces (where phase
averaging naturally results in the microscopic solution with multiple non local
processes).Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Electrical detection of spin accumulation and spin precession at room temperature in metallic spin valves
We have fabricated a multiterminal lateral mesoscopic metallic spin valve demonstrating spin precession at room temperature (RT), using tunnel barriers in combination with metallic ferromagnetic electrodes as a spin injector and detector. The observed modulation of the output signal due to the spin precession is discussed and explained in terms of a time-of-flight experiment of electrons in a diffusive conductor. The obtained spin relaxation length lambda(sf)=500 nm in an aluminum strip will make detailed studies of spin dependent transport phenomena possible and allow one to explore the possibilities of the electron spin for-new electronic applications at RT. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.1532753].</p
First- and Second-Order Phase Transitions, Fulde-Ferrel Inhomogeneous State and Quantum Criticality in Ferromagnet/Superconductor Double Tunnel Junctions
First- and second-order phase transitions, Fulde-Ferrel (FF) inhomogeneous
superconducting (SC) state and quantum criticality in
ferromagnet/superconductor/ferromagnet double tunnel junctions are
investigated. For the antiparallel alignment of magnetizations, it is shown
that a first-order phase transition from the homogeneous BCS state to the
inhomogeneous FF state occurs at a certain bias voltage ; while the
transitions from the BCS state and the FF state to the normal state at are of the second-order. A phase diagram for the central superconductor
is presented. In addition, a quantum critical point (QCP), , is
identified. It is uncovered that near the QCP, the SC gap, the chemical
potential shift induced by the spin accumulation, and the difference of free
energies between the SC and normal states vanish as with
the quantum critical exponents , 1 and 2, respectively. The tunnel
conductance and magnetoresistance are also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Phys. Rev. B 71, 144514 (2005
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