445 research outputs found
Spin injection and electric field effect in degenerate semiconductors
We analyze spin-transport in semiconductors in the regime characterized by
(intermediate to degenerate), where is the Fermi
temperature. Such a regime is of great importance since it includes the lightly
doped semiconductor structures used in most experiments; we demonstrate that,
at the same time, it corresponds to the regime in which carrier-carrier
interactions assume a relevant role. Starting from a general formulation of the
drift-diffusion equations, which includes many-body correlation effects, we
perform detailed calculations of the spin injection characteristics of various
heterostructures, and analyze the combined effects of carrier density
variation, applied electric field and Coulomb interaction. We show the
existence of a degenerate regime, peculiar to semiconductors, which strongly
differs, as spin-transport is concerned, from the degenerate regime of metals.Comment: Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Shot noise in a diffusive F-N-F spin valve
Fluctuations of electric current in a spin valve consisting of a diffusive
conductor connected to ferromagnetic leads and operated in the giant
magnetoresistance regime are studied. It is shown that a new source of
fluctuations due to spin-flip scattering enhances strongly shot noise up to a
point where the Fano factor approaches the full Poissonian value.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Mesoscopic transport beyond linear response
We present an approach to steady-state mesoscopic transport based on the
maximum entropy principle formulation of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics.
Our approach is not limited to the linear response regime. We show that this
approach yields the quantization observed in the integer quantum Hall effect at
large currents, which until now has been unexplained. We also predict new
behaviors of non-local resistances at large currents in the presence of dirty
contacts.Comment: 14 pages plus one figure (with an insert) (post-script codes
appended), RevTeX 3.0, UCF-CM-93-004 (Revised
Spin-Polarized Electron Transport at Ferromagnet/Semiconductor Schottky Contacts
We theoretically investigate electron spin injection and spin-polarization
sensitive current detection at Schottky contacts between a ferromagnetic metal
and an n-type or p-type semiconductor. We use spin-dependent continuity
equations and transport equations at the drift-diffusion level of
approximation. Spin-polarized electron current and density in the semiconductor
are described for four scenarios corresponding to the injection or the
collection of spin polarized electrons at Schottky contacts to n-type or p-type
semiconductors. The transport properties of the interface are described by a
spin-dependent interface resistance, resulting from an interfacial tunneling
region. The spin-dependent interface resistance is crucial for achieving spin
injection or spin polarization sensitivity in these configurations. We find
that the depletion region resulting from Schottky barrier formation at a
metal/semiconductor interface is detrimental to both spin injection and spin
detection. However, the depletion region can be tailored using a doping density
profile to minimize these deleterious effects. For example, a heavily doped
region near the interface, such as a delta-doped layer, can be used to form a
sharp potential profile through which electrons tunnel to reduce the effective
Schottky energy barrier that determines the magnitude of the depletion region.
The model results indicate that efficient spin-injection and spin-polarization
detection can be achieved in properly designed structures and can serve as a
guide for the structure design.Comment: RevTex
Electric-field dependent spin diffusion and spin injection into semiconductors
We derive a drift-diffusion equation for spin polarization in semiconductors
by consistently taking into account electric-field effects and nondegenerate
electron statistics. We identify a high-field diffusive regime which has no
analogue in metals. In this regime there are two distinct spin diffusion
lengths. Furthermore, spin injection from a ferromagnetic metal into a
semiconductor is enhanced by several orders of magnitude and spins can be
transported over distances much greater than the low-field spin diffusion
length.Comment: 5 pages, 3 eps figure
Current driven switching of magnetic layers
The switching of magnetic layers is studied under the action of a spin
current in a ferromagnetic metal/non-magnetic metal/ferromagnetic metal spin
valve. We find that the main contribution to the switching comes from the
non-equilibrium exchange interaction between the ferromagnetic layers. This
interaction defines the magnetic configuration of the layers with minimum
energy and establishes the threshold for a critical switching current.
Depending on the direction of the critical current, the interaction changes
sign and a given magnetic configuration becomes unstable. To model the time
dependence of the switching process, we derive a set of coupled Landau-Lifshitz
equations for the ferromagnetic layers. Higher order terms in the
non-equilibrium exchange coupling allow the system to evolve to its
steady-state configuration.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Spin Accumulation in Quantum Wires with Strong Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling
We present analytical and numerical results for the effect of Rashba
spin-orbit coupling on band structure, transport, and interaction effects in
quantum wires when the spin precession length is comparable to the wire width.
In contrast to the weak-coupling case, no common spin-quantization axis can be
defined for eigenstates within a single-electron band. The situation with only
the lowest spin-split subbands occupied is particularly interesting because
electrons close to Fermi points of the same chirality can have approximately
parallel spins. We discuss consequences for spin-dependent transport and
effective Tomonaga-Luttinger descriptions of interactions in the quantum wire.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, expanded discussion of spin accumulatio
Ground state properties of ferromagnetic metal/conjugated polymer interfaces
We theoretically investigate the ground state properties of ferromagnetic
metal/conjugated polymer interfaces. The work is partially motivated by recent
experiments in which injection of spin polarized electrons from ferromagnetic
contacts into thin films of conjugated polymers was reported. We use a
one-dimensional nondegenerate Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) Hamiltonian to
describe the conjugated polymer and one-dimensional tight-binding models to
describe the ferromagnetic metal. We consider both a model for a conventional
ferromagnetic metal, in which there are no explicit structural degrees of
freedom, and a model for a half-metallic ferromagnetic colossal
magnetoresistance (CMR) oxide which has explicit structural degrees of freedom.
The Fermi energy of the magnetic metallic contact is adjusted to control the
degree of electron transfer into the polymer. We investigate electron charge
and spin transfer from the ferromagnetic metal to the organic polymer, and
structural relaxation near the interface. Bipolarons are the lowest energy
charge state in the bulk polymer for the nondegenerate SSH model Hamiltonian.
As a result electrons (or holes) transferred into the bulk of the polymer form
spinless bipolarons. However, there can be spin density in the polymer
localized near the interface.Comment: 7 figure
Spin Injection and Detection in Magnetic Nanostructures
We study theoretically the spin transport in a nonmagnetic metal connected to
ferromagnetic injector and detector electrodes. We derive a general expression
for the spin accumulation signal which covers from the metallic to the
tunneling regime. This enables us to discuss recent controversy on spin
injection and detection experiments. Extending the result to a superconducting
device, we find that the spin accumulation signal is strongly enhanced by
opening of the superconducting gap since a gapped superconductor is a low
carrier system for spin transport but not for charge. The enhancement is also
expected in semiconductor devices.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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