Generating spin currents in semiconductors with the spin Hall effect

We investigate electrically induced spin currents generated by the spin Hall effect in GaAs structures that distinguish edge effects from spin transport. Using Kerr rotation microscopy to image the spin polarization, we demonstrate that the observed spin accumulation is due to a transverse bulk electron spin current, which can drive spin polarization nearly 40 microns into a region in which there is minimal electric field. Using a model that incorporates the effects of spin drift, we determine the transverse spin drift velocity from the magnetic field dependence of the spin polarization.     

自旋密度光栅和本征GaAs量子阱中的电子自旋双极扩散

为研究空穴对自旋极化电子扩散的影响,提出用自旋密度光栅方法来观察电子自旋扩散过程。由飞秒激光在本征GaAs多量子阱中激发产生瞬态自旋光栅和瞬态自旋密度光栅,并用于研究电子自旋扩散和电子自旋双极扩散。实验测得自旋双极扩散系数Das ＝25.4 cm 2/s,低于自旋扩散系数Ds ＝113.0 cm 2/s,表明自旋密度光栅中电子自旋扩散受到空穴的显著影响。     

Spin Pumping from a Quantum Dot in the Presence of Decoherence

We study the pumped spin current of an interacting quantum dot tunnel coupled to a single lead in the presence of electron spin resonance （ESR） field. The spin decoherence in the dot is included by the Bffttiker approach. Using the nonequilibrium Green＇s function technique, we show that ESR-induced spin flip can generate finite spin current with no charge transport. Both the Coulomb interaction and spin decoherence decrease the amplitude of spin current. The dependence of pumped spin current on the intensity and frequency of ESR field, and the spin decoherence is discussed.     

Spin current in quantum XXZ spin chain

The spin current in the one-dimensional quantum XXZ spin chain is studied based on the exact solutions. It is found that the spin voltage controlled by the unparallel boundary magnetic fields can induce the pure longitudinal spin current in the system. By using Wiener–Hopf and generalized algebraic Bethe ansatz methods, the analytic expressions for the spin current and the spin conductance are obtained. The spin current is proportional to the inverse of the length of the spin chain. The magnitude of spin current can be manipulated by the strength and the twist angle of two boundary magnetic fields. The exact analysis also shows that there exist an Ohm law or London equation type relation between the spin current and the spin conductance.     

Gauge theory approach for diffusive and precessional spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas

We develop a gauge theory for diffusive and precessional spin dynamics in a two-dimensional electron gas. Our approach reveals a direct connection between the absence of the equilibrium spin current and a strong anisotropy in the spin relaxation: both effects arise if spin-orbit coupling is reduced to a pure gauge SU(2) field. In this case, the spin-orbit coupling can be removed by a gauge transformation in the form of a local SU(2) spin rotation. The resulting spin dynamics is exactly described in terms of two kinetic coefficients: the spin diffusion and electron mobility. After the inverse transformation, full diffusive and precessional spin density dynamics, including the anisotropic spin relaxation, formation of stable spin structures, and spin precession induced by a macroscopic current are restored. Explicit solutions of the spin evolution equations are found for the initially uniform spin density and for stable, nonuniform structures. Our analysis demonstrates a universal relation between the spin relaxation rate and spin-diffusion coefficient.     

Evolution of the spin Hall effect in Pt nanowires: size and temperature effects

We have studied the evolution of the spin Hall effect (SHE) in the regime where the material size responsible for the spin accumulation is either smaller or larger than the spin diffusion length. Lateral spin valve structures with Pt insertions were successfully used to measure the spin absorption efficiency as well as the spin accumulation in Pt induced through the spin Hall effect. Under a constant applied current the results show a decrease of the spin accumulation signal is more pronounced as the Pt thickness exceeds the spin diffusion length. This implies that the spin accumulation originates from bulk scattering inside the Pt wire and the spin diffusion length limits the SHE. We have also analyzed the temperature variation of the spin Hall conductivity to identify the dominant scattering mechanism.     

Relativistic Spin Operators

A systematic theory on the appropriate spin operators for the relativistic states is developed.For a massive relativistic particle with arbitrary nonzero spin,the spin operator should be replaced with the relativistic one,which is called in this paper as moving spin.Further the concept of moving spin is discussed in the quantum field theory.A new operator,field quanta spin is defined and in terms of the generators of Poincare group the moving spin of field system is constructed.It is shown that,in virtue of the two operators,problems in quantum field concerned spin can be neatly settled.     

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.     

自旋轨道耦合系统中的自旋流与自旋霍尔效应

作为自旋电子学的重要研究内容,如何在固态系统中产生、操控以及探测自旋流引起了研究人员的广泛兴趣.基于自旋轨道耦合的自旋霍尔效应为在非磁性半导体中产生自旋流提供了一种有效途径.然而,在具有自旋轨道耦合的系统中,自旋流并不守恒.如何理解这点并恰当地表述相应的连续性方程,成为自旋输运研究的基本问题之一.本文主要综述自旋轨道耦合系统中自旋流与自旋霍尔效应方面的研究进展.引入SU(2)规范势后,自旋流满足协变形式的连续性方程,该方程保证了SU(2)Kubo公式在不同规范固定下的自洽性.利用SU(2)场强张量,可以直接得到自旋密度和自旋流在SU(2)外场中受到的白旋力,该力在只有U(1)磁场时对应于Stern-Gerlach力.由于依赖杂质散射的外在自旋霍尔效应很难被利用,内在自旋霍尔效应的概念被提出:在非磁半导体中,U(1)电场会诱导出自旋流并导致系统边缘处的自旋积累.自旋霍尔效应已经在半导体和金属材料中被观察到.虽然在干净的二维电子气中自旋霍尔电导率是一普适常数e/8π,但杂质对它的影响却引起了人们的高度关注.通过引入退相干效应,自旋霍尔效应中杂质效应的一些令人困惑的理论结果,则得到清晰的解释.此外,本文还将介绍具有层间隧穿的双层二维电子气中的自旋输运现象.在能量简并点附近,自旋霍尔电导率和隧穿白旋电导率均会出现共振现象.当两层间的杂质势强度存在差异时,隧穿自旋电导率随门压的变化曲线呈现出非对称性,显示出自旋二极管效应.     

Spin Polarization and Spin‐Flip Through Phosphorene Superlattice

The spin‐dependent transport properties, including spin polarization and spin‐flip for phosphorene superlattice in the presence of an extrinsic Rashba spin‐orbit interaction (RSOI) based on the transfer matrix method, are studied. The results show that the number of barriers in the superlattice structure plays a dominant role in output spin polarization, which can be used in designing optimized spintronic devices. In addition, by controlling on the Rashba strength, an incident spin‐up electron can be transmitted as a spin‐down electron. Also, it enables to convert the unpolarized incident electronic beam (with zero spin polarization) into an arbitrary output spin polarization, which plays a significant role in qubit circuits.     

Dynamics of Spin-2 Bose-Einstein Condensates

We numerically simulate the dynamics of a spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensate. We find that the initial phase plays an important role in the spin component oscillations. The spin mixing processes can fully cancel out due to quantum interference when taking some initial special phase. In all the spin mixing processes, the total spin is conversed. When the initial population is mainly occupied by a component with the maximal or minimal magnetic quantum number, the oscillations of spin components cannot happen due to the total spin conversation. The presence of quadratic Zeeman energy terms suppresses some spin mixing processes so that the oscillations of spin components are suppressed in some initial spin configuration. However, the linear Zeeman energy terms have no effects on the spin mixing processes.     

自旋轨道耦合系统中的自旋流与自旋霍尔效应

作为自旋电子学的重要研究内容,如何在固态系统中产生、操控以及探测自旋流引起了研究人员的广泛兴趣。基于自旋轨道耦合的自旋霍尔效应为在非磁性半导体中产生自旋流提供了一种有效途径。然而,在具有自旋轨道耦合的系统中,自旋流并不守恒。如何理解这点并恰当地表述相应的连续性方程,成为自旋输运研究的基本问题之一。本文主要综述自旋轨道耦合系统中自旋流与自旋霍尔效应方面的研究进展。引入SU(2)规范势后,自旋流满足协变形式的连续性方程,该方程保证了SU(2)Kubo公式在不同规范固定下的自洽性。利用SU(2)场强张量,可以直接得到自旋密度和自旋流在SU(2)外场中受到的自旋力,该力在只有U(1)磁场时对应于Stern-Gerlach力。由于依赖杂质散射的外在自旋霍尔效应很难被利用,内在自旋霍尔效应的概念被提出:在非磁半导体中,U(1)电场会诱导出自旋流并导致系统边缘处的自旋积累。自旋霍尔效应已经在半导体和金属材料中被观察到。虽然在干净的二维电子气中自旋霍尔电导率是一普适常数e/8π,但杂质对它的影响却引起了人们的高度关注。通过引入退相干效应,自旋霍尔效应中杂质效应的一些令人困惑的理论结果,则得到清晰的解释。此外,本文还将介绍具有层间隧穿的双层二维电子气中的自旋输运现象。在能量简并点附近,自旋霍尔电导率和隧穿自旋电导率均会出现共振现象。当两层间的杂质势强度存在差异时,隧穿自旋电导率随门压的变化曲线呈现出非对称性,显示出自旋二极管效应。     

NMR spin–spin coupling constants in microhydrated ortho-aminobenzoic acid

The influence of the hydrogen-bond formation on the NMR spin–spin coupling constants, including the Fermi contact, the diamagnetic spin–orbit, the paramagnetic spin–orbit and the spin dipole term, has been investigated for the ortho-aminobenzoic acid microhydrated with up to three water molecules. The one-bond and two-bond spin–spin coupling constants for several intra-molecular and across-the-hydrogen-bond atomic pairs are calculated employing high-level density functional theory in combination with the B3LYP functional with two different types of extended basis sets for each level of microhydration. The spin–spin coupling constants, in general, vary inversely with the hydrogen bond length. The Fermi contact term is found to be the dominant contributor to the total value of spin–spin coupling constant followed by the paramagnetic spin–orbit term. The variations of Fermi contact term and atomic charge distribution with size of microhydration follow quite similar trend. The effect of explicit solvation provided by microhydration has also been compared briefly with that of bulk implicit solvation obtained through polarised continuum model and mixed microhydration/continuum approach.     

Spin Squeezing for Superpositions of Dicke States

We investigate spin squeezing for superpositions of Dicke states. We derive the mean spin direction, the length of mean spin, the optimally squeezed angle and numerically calculate the spin squeezing parameter, which is determined by on the superposed coefficients and the relative phase. Approximate same superposed amplitude and the smaller relative phase lead to the larger the length of mean spin, the stronger spin squeezing and spin squeezing maintains in a longer time interval.     

Heteronuclear 1H-13C spin echoes mediated by cross-polarization

Heteronuclear spin echoes having the spin coherence transferred by means of cross-polarization (CP) under Hartmann-Hahn condition are reported. The particular characteristic of heteronuclear spin echoes is that the dephasing and refocusing processes take place within different nuclear species. Originally, they were demonstrated using the heteronuclear scalar interaction to transfer the spin coherence between the two spin systems. In this work, it is shown that spin coherence transferred by CP can also lead to the formation of heteronuclear spin echoes. A semiclassical formalism was used to explain the mechanism of generation of the spin echoes. These spin echoes were observed so far in elastomeric materials.     

Dynamics of spin transport in voltage-biased Josephson junctions

We investigate spin transport in voltage-biased spin-active Josephson junctions. The interplay of spin filtering, spin mixing, and multiple Andreev reflection leads to nonlinear voltage dependence of the dc and ac spin current. We compute the voltage characteristics of the spin current (IS) for superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor Josephson junctions. The subharmonic gap structure of IS(V) is shown to be sensitive to the degree of spin mixing generated by the ferromagnetic interface, and exhibits a pronounced even-odd effect associated with spin transport during multiple Andreev reflection processes. For strong spin mixing both the magnitude and the direction of the dc spin current can be sensitively controlled by the bias voltage.     

铁磁/有机半导体/铁磁系统的电流自旋极化性质研究

根据有机半导体中的电流自旋极化注入和输运实验现象，理论上研究了铁磁/有机半导体/铁磁系统的电流自旋极化性质.考虑到有机半导体的具体特性，从自旋扩散理论和欧姆定律出发，得到了系统的电流自旋极化率.假设自旋极化子和不带自旋的双极化子为有机半导体中的载流子.通过计算发现，极化子为实现有机半导体中电流极化注入和输运的有效自旋载流子，即使它只占总载流子很少一部分.还进一步研究了自旋相关界面电阻和电导率匹配以及有机半导体长度等因素对系统电流自旋极化的影响. 关键词： 自旋电子学 自旋注入 有机半导体 极化子     

Observation of coherent oscillations in a single electron spin

Rabi nutations and Hahn echo modulation of a single electron spin in a single defect center have been observed. The coherent evolution of the spin quantum state is followed via optical detection of the spin state. Coherence times up to several microseconds at room temperature have been measured. Optical excitation of the spin states leads to decoherence. Quantum beats between electron spin transitions in a single spin Hahn echo experiment are observed. A closer analysis reveals that beats also result from the hyperfine coupling of the electron spin to a single 14N nuclear spin. The results are analyzed in terms of a density matrix approach of an electron spin interacting with two oscillating fields.     

Spin-filtered edge states and quantum Hall effect in graphene

Electron edge states in graphene in the quantum Hall effect regime can carry both charge and spin. We show that spin splitting of the zeroth Landau level gives rise to counterpropagating modes with opposite spin polarization. These chiral spin modes lead to a rich variety of spin current states, depending on the spin-flip rate. A method to control the latter locally is proposed. We estimate Zeeman spin splitting enhanced by exchange, and obtain a spin gap of a few hundred Kelvin.     

Characterizing a high spin magnetic impurity via Andreev reflection spectroscopy

The ground state properties of a high spin magnetic impurity and its interaction with an electronic spin are probed via Andreev reflection. We see that through the charge and spin conductance one can effectively estimate the interaction strength, the ground state spin and magnetic moment of any high spin magnetic impurity. We show how a high spin magnetic impurity at the junction between a normal metal and superconductor can contribute to superconducting spintronics applications. Particularly, while spin conductance is absent below the gap for Ferromagnet-Insulator-Superconductor junctions we show that in the case of a Normal metal-High spin magnetic impurity-Normal Metal-Insulator-Superconductor (NMNIS) junction it is present. Further, it is seen that pure spin conduction can exist without any accompanying charge conduction in the NMNIS junction.