Spin transport in a spin-injected organic semiconductor system

Spin injection in an organic semiconductor system under an external electric-field was studied theoretically by considering spin-dependent conductivity. The effect of the spin-dependent electrical-conductivity on the spin-injection efficiency is self-consistently derived. It is found that the spin-injection efficiency depends evidently on the spin-dependent electrical-conductivity. When the spin-injection efficiency increases 20%, the spin-dependent electrical-conductivity increases nearly four orders of magnitude at T = 10 K. With the increase of external electric-field, the spin-dependent electrical-conductivity increases sharply and makes the spin-injection efficiency increase, too. When the external electric-field varies from 1 to 10 mv/μm, the spin-injection efficiency increases almost 10% at room temperature. It seems to be significant to consider the spin-dependent electrical-conductivity under the external electric-field in spin-injected organic system.     

Effect of different conductivity between the spin polarons on spin injection in a ferromagnet/organic semiconductor system

Spin injection across ferromagnet/organic semiconductor system with finite width of the layers was studied theoretically considering spin-dependent conductivity in the organic-semiconductor. It was found that the spin injection efficiency is directly dependent on the difference between the conductivity of the up-spin and down-spin polarons in the spin-injected organic system. Furthermore, the finite width of the structure, interfacial electrochemical-potential and conductivity mismatch have great influence on the spin injection process across ferromagnet/organic semiconductor interface.     

Spin injection in an organic device with a spin polarized self-assembled monolayer

We propose to achieve spin injection in an organic device by a spin polarized self-assembled monolayer (SPSAM), which is used to tune the spin-dependent coupling between electrode and organic polymer. The results show that spin injection can be realized by both the spin selection and spin manipulation effects of the SPSAM. Interestingly, we found spin polarized wave-packet as a consequence of the spin injection, which is a mix of a normal spin polaron and a spinless bipolaron.     

Electric tunable of electron spin polarization in hybrid magnetic-electric barrier structures

Electron spin-dependent transport properties have been theoretically investigated in two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) modulated by the magnetic field generated by a pair of anti-parallel magnetization ferromagnetic metal stripes and the electrostatic potential provided by a normal metal Schottky stripe. It is shown that the energy positions of the spin-polarization extremes and the width of relative spin conductance excess plateau could be significantly manipulated by the electrostatic potential strength and width, as well as its position relative to the FM stripes. These interesting features are believed useful for designing the electric voltage controlled spin filters.     

Photocurrent spin diode: Electrically controlled sign reversal of current polarization

We report a study of spin-dependent transport through a quantum dot irradiated by continuous circularly polarized light resonant to the electron-heavy hole transition. We use the nonequilibrium Green's function to calculate the spin accumulation, spin-resolved currents, and current polarization in the presence of an external bias and intradot Coulomb interaction. It is found that for a range of external biases sign reversal of the current polarization can be modulated. The system thus operates as a rectifier for spin current polarization. This effect follows from the interplay between the external irradiation and the Coulomb repulsion. The spin-polarized transport through a three-terminal device is also discussed. Spin current with high polarization could be obtained due to spin filter effect.     

Selective spin injection controlled by electrical way in ferromagnet/quantum dot/semiconductor system

Selective and large polarization of current injected into semiconductor (SC) is predicted in ferromagnet (FM)/quantum dot (QD)/SC system by varying the gate voltage above the Kondo temperature. In addition, spin-dependent Kondo effect is also revealed below Kondo temperature. It is found that Kondo resonances for up spin state are suppressed with increasing of the polarization P of the FM lead. While the down one is enhanced. The Kondo peak for up spin is disappear at P=1.     

Theoretical model of spin transfer torque in multilayers

We present a model of spin transport in a Co/Cu(1 1 1)/Co pseudo-spin-valve (PSV) structure where current is flowing in the current perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) geometry. The model considers ballistic spin-dependent transmission at the two Co–Cu interfaces, as well as diffusive spin relaxation within the Cu spacer and free Co layer. In the latter, the spin relaxation process is composed of the usual longitudinal spin relaxation due to spin flip scattering, as well as transverse spin relaxation due to spin precession. The resulting spin transfer torque exerted on the moments within the free Co layer is composed of two contributions, the main contribution coming from “absorbed” spins in the interfacial regions. The second contribution arises from the relaxation of spin accumulation within the free Co layer. The calculated critical current density for switching is estimated to be approximately between 3.3×10⁷ and 1.1×10⁸ A/cm², which is in agreement with available experimental results.     

Effect of Electric Field on Spin Polarized Current in Ferromagnetic/Organic Semiconductor Systems

Considering the special carriers in organic semiconductors, the spin polarized current under electric field in a ferromagnetic/organic semiconductor system is theoretically studied. Based on the spin-diffusion theory, the current spin polarization under the electric field is obtained. It is found that electric field can enhance the current spin polarization.     

Spin Coulomb Dragging Inhibition of Spin-Polarized Electric Current Injecting into Organic Semiconductors

We introduce a one-dimensional spin injection structure comprising a ferromagnetic metal and a nondegenerate organic semiconductor to model electric current polarizations. With this model we analyse spin Coulomb dragging (SCD) effects on the polarization under various electric fields, interface and conductivity conditions. The results show that the SCD inhibits the current polarization. Thus the SCD inhibition should be well considered for accurate evaluation of current polarization in the design of organic spin devices.     

An alternative mechanism for current-induced antisymmetric lateral edge spin accumulations in ballistic two-dimensional electron gases

In this Letter an alternative mechanism is proposed for current-induced antisymmetric lateral edge spin accumulations in thin strips of ballistic two-dimensional electron gases with intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. In this mechanism, the occurrence of current-induced antisymmetric lateral edge spin accumulations in a semiconductor strip is not due to a transverse spin current but originates from the combined action of the spin-orbit coupling, the boundary confinement on both lateral edges of the strip, and the time-reversal symmetry-breaking caused by the longitudinal charge current circulating through the strip. The results obtained in this Letter indicate that, the occurrence of current-induced antisymmetric lateral edge spin accumulations in a thin strip of a spin-orbit coupled two-dimensional electronic system does not need to be associated necessarily with a transverse spin current in principle.     

Spin polarization of two-dimensional electron gas in hybrid ferromagnetic/semiconductor nanostructures

We present a theoretical study on the spin-dependent transport of electrons in hybrid ferromagnetic/semiconductor nanosystem under an applied bias voltage. Experimentally, this kind of nanosystem can be realized by depositing a magnetized ferromagnetic stripe with arbitrary magnetization direction on the surface of a semiconductor heterostructure. It is shown that large spin-polarized current can be achieved in such a nanosystem. It is also shown that the spin polarity of the electron transport can be switched by adjusting the applied bias voltage. These interesting properties may provide an alternative scheme to realize spin injection into semiconductors, and such a nanosystem may be used as a tunable spin-filter by bias voltage.     

Disturbance of spin equilibrium by current through the interface of noncollinear ferromagnets

Boundary conditions are derived that determine the penetration of spin current through an interface of two noncollinear ferromagnets with an arbitrary angle between their magnetization vectors. We start from the well-known transformation properties of an electron spin wave functions under the rotation of a quantization axis. It allows directly find the connection between partial electric current densities for different spin subbands of the ferromagnets. No spin scattering is assumed in the near interface region, so that spin conservation takes place when electron intersects the boundary. The continuity conditions are found for partial chemical potential differences in the situation. Spatial distribution of nonequilibrium electron magnetizations is calculated under the spin current flowing through a contact of two semi-infinite ferromagnets. The distribution describes the spin accumulation effect by current and corresponding shift of the potential drop at the interface. These effects appear strongly dependent on the relation between spin contact resistances at the interface.     

Electron-spin polarization in a non-magnetic heterostructure

The spin dependent electron transmission through a non-magnetic III-V semiconductor symmetric well is studied theoretically so as to investigate the output transmission current polarization at zero magnetic field. Transparency of electron transmission is calculated as a function of electron energy as well as the well width, within the one electron band approximation along with the spin-orbit interaction. Enhanced spin-polarized resonant tunneling in the heterostructure due to Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit coupling induced splitting of the resonant level is observed. We predict that a spin-polarized current spontaneously emerges in this heterostructure. This effect could be employed in the fabrication of spin filters, spin injectors and detectors based on non-magnetic semiconductors.     

The quadrupole mechanism of hole spin relaxation

For spin-3/2 holes the anisotropic part of the instantaneous Luttinger Hamiltonian can be represented as an effective quadrupole coupling. We investigate the hole spin relaxation process induced by nonadiabatic fluctuations of this interaction. The obtained analytical solution of the stochastic Liouville equation describes the polarization decay of spin-3/2 holes in all regimes of momentum scattering: from collision-dominated to ballistic. Our results create the basis for quantitative interpretation of recent experiments and elucidate the striking difference between the hole spin relaxation process in bulk crystals and 2D semiconductor nanostructures.     

CrAs(0 0 1)/AlAs(0 0 1) heterogeneous junction as a spin current diode predicted by first-principles calculations

We report on first-principles calculations of spin-dependent quantum transport in a CrAs(0 0 1)/AlAs(0 0 1) heterogeneous junction and predict a strong diode effect of charge and spin current. The minority spin current is absolutely inhibited when the bias voltage is applied to the terminals of both CrAs and AlAs. The majority spin current is inhibited when the bias voltage is applied to the terminal of CrAs and “relaxed” when the bias voltage is applied to the terminal of AlAs. The charge and spin current diode are promising for reprogrammable logic applications in the field of spintronics.     

Response of spin-accumulated ferromagnet/superconductor/ferromagnet double tunnel junction to applied magnetic field

Tunneling current in a ferromagnet/superconductor/ferromagnet double tunnel junction induces a nonequilibrium spin accumulation in the superconductor. We study theoretically the response of such a system to applied magnetic field. We show that the interplay between the magnetic field and the spin accumulation could lead to novel bias voltage dependence and magnetic field dependence of the superconducting gap function, and bring in anomalous asymmetry in the spin-dependent transport. Our study also indicates a possible application of the spin injection.     

Efficient spin filtering in a disordered semiconductor superlattice in the presence of Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling

The influence of the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on spin polarization by tunneling through a disordered semiconductor superlattice was investigated. The Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling causes the spin polarization of the electron due to transmission possibilities difference between spin up and spin down electrons. The electron tunneling through a zinc-blende semiconductor superlattice with InAs and GaAs layers and two variable distance In_xGa_(1−x)As impurity layers was studied. One hundred percent spin polarization was obtained by optimizing the distance between two impurity layers and impurity percent in disordered layers in the presence of Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling. In addition, the electron transmission probability through the mentioned superlattice is too much near to one and an efficient spin filtering was recommended.     

Modulation of Spin Distribution and Spin Transport by a Magnetic Field in a Quasi-One-Dimensional System with Spin--Orbit Coupling

The distributions of spin and currents modulated by magnetic field in a transverse parabolic confined two-dimensional electronic system with a Rashba spin--orbit coupling have been studied numerically. It is shown that the spin accumulation and the spin related current are generated by magnetic field if the spin--orbit coupling is presented. The distributions of charge and spin currents are antisymmetrical along the cross-section of confined system. A transversely applied electric field does not influence the characteristic behaviour of charge- and spin-dependent properties.     

Rashba interferometers: Spin-dependent single- and two-electron interference

Quantum transport in semiconductor nanostructures can be described theoretically in terms of the propagation and scattering of electron probability waves. Within this approach, elements of a phase-coherent electric circuit play a role similar to quantum-optical devices that can be characterised by scattering matrices. Electronic analogues of well-know optical interferometers have been fabricated and used to study special features of charge carriers in solids. We present results from our theoretical investigation into the interplay between spin precession and quantum interference in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer with spin-orbit coupling of the Rashba type. Intriguing spin-dependent transport effects occur, which can be the basis for novel spintronic devices such as a magnet-less spin-controlled field-effect transistor and a variety of single-qubit gates. Their functionality arises entirely from spin-dependent interference of each single-input electron with itself. We have also studied two-electron interference effects for the spin-dependent Mach-Zehnder interferometer, obtaining analytical expressions for its two-fermion-state scattering matrix. Using this result, we consider ways to generate two-electron output states for which the Rashba spin-subband quantum number and the output arm index are entangled. Combining spin-dependent interference in our proposed Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a projective charge measurement at the output enables entanglement generation. As our particular scheme involves tuneable spin precession, electric-field control of entanglement production can be achieved.     

Diffusion theory of spin injection through resistive contacts

Insertion of a resistive contact between a ferromagnetic metal and a semiconductor microstructure is of critical importance for achieving efficient spin injection into a semiconductor. However, the equations of the diffusion theory are rather cumbersome for the junctions including such contacts. A technique based on deriving a system of self-consistent equations for the coefficients of spin injection, γ, through different contacts are developed. These equations are concise when written in the proper notations. Moreover, the resistance of a two-contact junction can be expressed in terms of γ's of both contacts. This equation makes calculating the spin valve effect straightforward, allows to find an explicit expression for the junction resistance and to prove that its nonequilibrium part is positive. Relation of these parameters to different phenomena like spin-e.m.f. and the contact transients is established. Comparative effect of the Coulomb screening on different parameters is clarified. It is also shown that the spin non-conservation in a contact can have a dramatic effect on the non-equilibrium resistance of the junction. Received 2 May 2002 / Received in final form 26 July 2002 Published online 15 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"Also at the Department of Physics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA e-mail: erashba@mailaps.org