Spin-dependent resonant tunneling through quantum-well states in magnetic metallic thin films

Quantum-well (QW) states in nonmagnetic metal films between magnetic layers are known to be important in spin-dependent transport, but QW states in magnetic films remains elusive. Here we identify the conditions for resonant tunneling through QW states in magnetic films and report first principles calculations of Fe/MgO/FeO/Fe/Cr and Co/MgO/Fe/Cr. We show that, at resonance, the current increases by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. The tunneling magnetoresistance ratio is much larger than in simple spin tunnel junctions and is positive (negative) for majority- (minority-) spin resonances, with a large asymmetry between positive and negative biases. The results can serve as a basis for novel spintronic devices.     

Kinetic limitations in electronic growth of Ag films on Fe(100)

Quantum well (QW) resonances are identified in Ag films on an Fe(100) surface and are used in low energy electron microscopy to monitor film morphology during annealing and growth. We find that Ag films thermally decompose to thicknesses that are stabilized by QW states at the Gamma point. Novel growth morphologies are also observed that highlight the competition between kinetic limitations and the QW state energetics that promote electronic growth. These combined observations help to explain the unusual bifurcation mode of thermal decomposition that was reported previously for this system.     

Correlations of conductance peaks and transmission phases in deformed quantum dots

We investigate the Coulomb blockade resonances and the phase of the transmission amplitude of a deformed ballistic quantum dot weakly coupled to leads. We show that preferred single-particle levels exist which stay close to the Fermi energy for a wide range of values of the gate voltage. These states give rise to sequences of Coulomb blockade resonances with correlated peak heights and transmission phases. The correlation of the peak heights becomes stronger with increasing temperature. The phase of the transmission amplitude shows lapses by between the resonances. Implications for recent experiments on ballistic quantum dots are discussed. Received 17 July 1998     

Spin-dependent quantum interference from epitaxial MgO thin films on Fe(001)

Spin-dependent electron reflection from MgO thin films grown on Fe(001) was measured using spin-polarized low energy electron microscopy. The electron reflectivity exhibits quantum interference from which two MgO energy bands with Delta1 symmetry were determined in experiment. We found that a bulklike MgO energy gap is fully established for MgO film thicker than 3 atomic monolayers and that the electron reflectivity from the MgO/Fe interface exhibits a spin-dependent amplitude and a spin-independent phase change.     

An exciton in a quantum well in the presence of crossed electric and magnetic fields

An analytical approach to the problem of the Wannier–Mott exciton in a semiconductor quantum well (QW) in the presence of external magnetic and electric fields is developed. The magnetic field is taken to lie in the heteroplanes while the electric field is directed perpendicular to the heteroplanes. Explicit dependencies of the energy levels and wave-functions of the exciton on the magnitudes of the fields for a wide range of the width of the QW are obtained. For the narrow QW, the results are valid for arbitrary electron and hole effective masses. In the case of intermediate and wide QWs, the adiabatic approximation implying the extreme difference of the electron and hole masses is used. In the intermediate QW, the states of the relative motion are the standard Coulomb states affected by the external fields while the states of the centre of mass are the size-quantized states in the QW. We focus particularly on the delocalized states caused by the external electric field and the motion of the excitons centre of mass in the magnetic field. These states are localized far away from the Coulomb centre. A strong influence of the boundaries of the wide QW on the delocalized exciton states is found to occur. Estimates of the expected values are made using typical parameters associated with GaAs QW.     

Fabrication and characterization of a vertical pillar structure including a self-assembled quantum dot and a quantum well

We fabricate and characterize a novel vertical pillar structure including a self-assembled InAs quantum dot (QD) and an InGaAs quantum well (QW). The vertical current through both the InAs QD and an electrostatically defined QD made in the InGaAs QW can be measured by adjusting the position of the InGaAs QD in the QW plane relative to the InAs QD with two side-gate voltages applied independently. We study optical response of the current through the vertical double QD by irradiating light, which is assumed to be mainly absorbed in the InAs QDs. We successfully probe a time-dependent energy level shift due to the Coulomb interaction from holes trapped in the vicinity of the pillar.     

Signatures of spin pairing in chaotic quantum dots

Coulomb blockade resonances are measured in a GaAs quantum dot in which both shape deformations and interactions are small. The parametric evolution of the Coulomb blockade peaks shows a pronounced pair correlation in both position and amplitude, which is interpreted as spin pairing. As a consequence, the nearest-neighbor distribution of peak spacings can be well approximated by a modified bimodal Wigner surmise, in which interactions are taken into account beyond the constant interaction model.     

Spin-dependent Fano effect through parallel-coupled double quantum dots

Based on the nonequilibrium Green' function method, the spin-dependent Fano effect through parallel-coupled double quantum dots has been investigated by taking account of both Rashba spin-orbit interaction and intradot Coulomb interaction. It is shown that the quantum interference through the bonding, antibonding states and through their Coulomb blockade counterparts may result in two Breit-Wigner resonances and two Fano resonances in the conductance spectra. Moreover, the Fano lineshape of the two spin components can be modulated by Rashba spin-orbit interaction when the magnetic flux is switched on.     

Blockade of tunneling in a suspended single-electron transistor

The tunneling of electrons that is limited by the Coulomb blockade effect in a single-electron transistor with a quantum dot based on a narrow GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wire suspended over a substrate is investigated. By means of a direct comparison experiment, the tunneling features associated with the separation of the quantum dot from the substrate are revealed. In addition to an increase in the charge energy (Coulomb gap), which reaches 170 K in temperature units, the dependence of this energy on the number of electrons in the quantum dot, which varies from zero to four, is observed. This dependence is explained by a change in the effective size of the dot due to the effect of the depleting gate voltage. Moreover, the additional blockade of tunneling that is different from the Coulomb blockade and is specific for suspended structures is observed. It is shown that this blockade is not associated with the dynamical effect of exciting local phonon modes and can be attributed to the change in the static elastic strains in the quantum wire that accompany the tunneling of an electron to/from the quantum dot.     

Enhanced conductance blockade due to Pauli exclusion in tunnel junctions with half-metallic electrodes

A defect-state mediated conductance blockade effect has been studied in magnetic tunnel junctions consisting of La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) electrodes and a SrTiO₃ (STO) barrier. The blockade threshold is an order of magnitude greater than the Coulomb charging energy estimated from the conductance oscillations at low temperature. The blockade voltage decreases with the increase of the temperature or the magnetic field, whereas the Coulomb charging energy washes out at higher temperature but it does not show strong dependence on magnetic field. An explanation is offered in terms of the spin blockade effect due to the combination of the discrete Coulomb charging on the defect state in STO and the half-metallicity of the LSMO electrodes. The result sheds new light on the half-metallic nature of LSMO.     

The exciton luminescence in Zn(Cd)Se/ZnMgSSe quantum wells

We study exciton states in Zn(Cd)Se/ZnMgSSe quantum wells (QWs) with various degrees of diffusion blurring in the interfaces by the methods of optical spectroscopy. We show that at low temperatures the QW emission spectra are determined by free and neutral donor-bound excitons. Blurring of the heterointerfaces leads to the increase in the energy shift between the emission line maxima of free and bound excitons. We explain the nonlinear dependence of the steady-state photoluminescence intensity on the excitation-power density in terms of the neutralization of charged donors at the photoexcitation of heterostructures. We observed a complex long-time dynamics of the reflection coefficient, evoked by the charge-redistribution processes in the heterostructure, near the QW exciton resonances under the irradiation.     

Magnetooptical force in the resonance field formed by elliptically polarized light waves

The screening of the Coulomb interaction is studied with regard to Friedel oscillations in multicomponent electron plasma structure. A double quantum well (QW) and a superlattice are considered. The groundstate energy of a donor (exciton) in a double quantum well is calculated by a variational method as a function of the population of subbands.     

Observation of peak splitting in the Coulomb blockade regime of a carbon nanotube rope

Electronic transport measurements have been carried out on a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCN) rope contacted to a 4-probe Au/Pd electrode in the Coulomb blockade regime. With varying substrate backgate voltage, the observed Coulomb blockade peaks exhibit interesting three-way splitting. We find that this peak splitting can be attributed to a contribution from resonant tunnelling through discrete energy levels of a finite length metallic SWCN within the rope. We also consider the role that interactions between `quantum dot' (Q-dot) regions within the rope can play in causing the peak splitting.     

Spin accumulation and cotunneling effects in ferromagnetic single-electron transistors

Electron tunneling through small metallic particles (islands) coupled to two ferromagnetic electrodes is studied theoretically in the Coulomb blockade regime, where higher order tunneling processes play a significant role. Transport characteristics of the system are analyzed by the real-time diagrammatic technique. It is shown that the spin splitting of the electrochemical potential due to spin accumulation on the island should be detectable from the spacing between two resonances in the current–voltage characteristics.     

Effects of screened Coulomb (Yukawa) and exponential-cosine-screened Coulomb potentials on photoionization of H and He+

The screening effects due to the exponential-cosine-screened Coulomb and screened Coulomb (Yukawa) potentials on photoionization processes are explored within the framework of complex coordinate rotation method. The energy levels of H and He⁺ in both screened potentials shifted with various Debye screening lengths are presented. The photoionization cross sections illustrate the considerable screening effects on photoionization processes in low energy region. The shape resonances can be found near ionization thresholds for certain of Debye screening lengths. The relations between the appearance of resonances and the existence of quasi-bound states under shielding conditions are discussed.     

Unique Magnetic Moment and Electronic Properties for Fe（MgO）n（n=1-8） Clusters： First-Principles Calculations

The geometries and electronic properties of Fe（MgO）n are systematically investigated by the density functional theory. The results show that the doped Fe atom is prone to bond with the O atom, and Fe almost does not disturb the frame of （MgO）n. The second-order energy difference, the fragmentation energies and the electron amnities show that Fe（MgO）4 and Fe（MgO）6 possess relatively higher stabilities. The HOMO-LUMO gaps of Fe（MgO）n decrease obviously as compared with （MgO）n. Almost equal unpaired electrons of the 3d state of the Fe atom in Fe（MgO）n result in a nearly equal magnetic moment of Fe（MgO）n.     

Imaging subsurface reflection phase with quantized electrons

Lead quantum wells (QW) epitaxially grown on annealed Pb/Si(111) interface form a model system for the study of interactions between quantized electrons and adiabatically modulated boundaries. Tunnel spectra of this system reveal a previously unknown adiabatic shift of QW resonances due to lateral variations of the electronic reflection phase at the buried interface. With this effect, lateral distribution of the subsurface reflection phase can be probed, using scanning tunneling microscopy.     

MgO单晶势垒磁性隧道结的第一性原理计算和实验研究

在MgO单晶势垒磁性隧道结中发现的室温高隧穿磁电阻现象,是近些年自旋电子学以及磁性隧道结磁电阻材料研究中的又一重大突破.本文主要评述和介绍2001年以来MgO单晶势垒磁性隧道结第一性原理计算和实验上的重要进展,以及介绍利用Layer-KKR第一性原理计算方法研究的Fe(001)/MgO/Fe、Fe(001)/FeO/MgO/Fe、Fe(001)/Mg/MgO/Fe、Fe(001)/Co/MgO/Co/Fe和Fe(001)[MgO/Fe/MgO/Fe等基于单晶MgO(001)单势垒及双势垒磁性隧道结材料的电子结构和自旋相关输运性质研究的最新进展.这些第一性原理定量计算的结果,不仅从物理上增强了对MgO单晶势垒磁性隧道结的电子结构和自旋相关输运特性的了解,而且对于研究新型室温磁电阻隧道结材料及其在自旋电子学器件中的广泛应用,具有一定的参考价值.     

Statistical tests applied to proton resonances in57Co

Statistical tests are applied to a sequence of 1/2⁺ resonances observed in⁵⁶Fe(p,p) and the results are compared with predictions of the random matrix model. The target nucleus and proton energy were chosen to yield favorable level densities, strength functions, and Coulomb penetrabilities. In addition, the TUNL high resolution system provides excellent sensitivity to small resonances. These points combine to yield a fairly pure and complete sequence, as indicated by the DysonF statistic and the Dyson-MehtaΔ ₃ statistic. Good agreement is found with the orthogonal ensemble predictions for the long and short range spacing correlations, and for the widths of thek-th nearest neighbor spacing distributions fork=0 to 10.