24 research outputs found
Novel mechanism of photoinduced reversible phase transitions in molecule-based magnets
A novel microscopic mechanism of bi-directional structural changes is
proposed for the photo-induced magnetic phase transition in Co-Fe Prussian blue
analogues on the basis of ab initio quantum chemical cluster calculations. It
is shown that the local potential energies of various spin states of Co are
sensitive to the number of nearest neighbor Fe vacancies. As a result, the
forward and backward structural changes are most readily initiated by
excitation of different local regions by different photons. This mechanism
suggests an effective strategy to realize photoinduced reversible phase
transitions in a general system consisting of two local components.Comment: 4 pages, LaTex, 3 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications
Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and
manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article
reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and
well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles
underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and
spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs
from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to
spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin
decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin
injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures
relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties.
Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in
which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be
used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not
feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.Comment: invited review, 36 figures, 900+ references; minor stylistic changes
from the published versio