The electron transport characters in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers

This paper detailedly studies the transmission probability, the spin polarization and the conductance of the ballistic electron in a nanostrueture with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers These observable quantities are found to be strongly dependent not only on the magnetic configuration, the incident electron energy and the incident wave vector, but also on the number of the periodic magnetic-electric barriers The transmission coefficient and the spin polarization show a periodic pattern with the increase of the separation between two adjacent magnetic fields, and the resonance splitting increases as the number of periods increases. Surprisingly, it is found that a polarization can be achieved by spin-dependent resonant tunnelling in this structure, although the average magnetic field of the structure is zero.     

The electron transport characters in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers

This paper detailedly studies the transmission probability, the spin polarization and the conductance of the ballistic electron in a nanostructure with the periodic magnetic-electric barriers. These observable quantities are found to be strongly dependent not only on the magnetic configuration, the incident electron energy and the incident wave vector, but also on the number of the periodic magnetic-electric barriers. The transmission coefficient and the spin polarization show a periodic pattern with the increase of the separation between two adjacent magnetic fields, and the resonance splitting increases as the number of periods increases. Surprisingly, it is found that a polarization can be achieved by spin-dependent resonant tunnelling in this structure, although the average magnetic field of the structure is zero.     

On the theory of one-dimensional spin-magnetic scattering of electrons

We consider a heterostructure, the potential profile of which consists of two magnetic barriers with noncollinear magnetizations separated by a nonmagnetic quantum well. It is shown that the transmission coefficient of a nonspin-polarized electron is modulated and the angle between the magnetization vectors of barriers is the modulation parameter.     

Depolarization of the photoluminescence and spin relaxation in n-doped GaAs

Optically oriented electron spin lifetime in n-doped gallium arsenide was measured via depolarization of the photoluminescence (PL) in a transverse magnetic field (Hanle effect). In order to measure the PL polarization, a time-resolved pump-probe experiment, where a pump pulse generates spin-polarized electrons and a probe pulse monitors their polarization, was employed. The PL polarization in dependences of the pump-probe delay, external magnetic field as well as of the sample temperature was studied. The PL polarization was found to decay exponentially with the pump-probe delay, from which the spin lifetime of the electrons was measured. The measured value was found to depend on the strength of the magnetic field and sample temperature.     

Spin polarization and spin separation realized in the double-helical molecules

We investigate the electron transport through one double-helical molecule with four terminals, by considering one terminal to be the source and others to be the drains. It is found that notable spin polarizations simultaneously occur during the processes of intra-chain electron tunneling and inter-chain electron reflection. More importantly, in these two processes, the spin polarizations always show similar strengths and opposite directions. Based on these results, we consider that the spin polarization and spin separation can be co-realized in this system.     

A bias-tunable electron-spin filter based on a two-dimensional electron gas modulated by ferromagnetic-Schottky metal stripes

We investigate the effect of the bias in an electron-spin filter based on a two-dimensional electron gas modulated by ferromagnetic-Schottky metal stripes. The numerical results show that the electron transmission and the conductance as well as the spin polarization are strongly dependent on the bias applied to the device.     

Spin-dependent electron transport in a nonmagnetic nanostructure with both Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit terms

The spin-dependent electron transport is numerically studied in a nonmagnetic nanostructure in the presence of both Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit interactions. It is shown that the large spin polarization can be achieved in such a structure mainly due to the Rashba spin-orbit term induced splitting of the resonant level. It is also shown that the spin polarization strongly depends on the well width and the thickness of the middle barrier as well as the height of the middle barrier.     

Electron transport in a two-dimensional electron gas modulated by one ferromagnetic stripe and two Schottky metal stripes

The electron transport in a two-dimensional electron gas modulated by ferromagnetic and Schottky metal stripes is theoretically studied. We find that the transmission and conductance as well as polarization are very sensitive to the position of the Schottky metal stripe, the electric-barrier height and the energy of the incident electron.     

Magneto-optical study of nonmagnetic quantum dots coupled to a magnetic semiconductor quantum well

We have investigated a series of double-layer structures consisting of a layer of self-assembled non-magnetic CdSe quantum dots (QDs) separated by a thin ZnSe barrier from a ZnCdMnSe diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMSs) quantum well (QW). In the series, the thickness of the ZnSe barrier ranged between 12 and 40 nm. We observe two clearly defined photoluminescence (PL) peaks in all samples, corresponding to the CdSe QDs and the ZnCdMnSe QW, respectively. The PL intensity of the QW peak is observed to decrease systematically relative to the QD peak as the thickness of the ZnSe barrier decreases, indicating a corresponding increase in carrier tunneling from the QW to the QDs. Furthermore, polarization-selective PL measurements reveal that the degree of polarization of the PL emitted by the CdSe QDs increases with decreasing thickness of the ZnSe barriers. The observed behavior is discussed in terms of anti-parallel spin interaction between carriers localized in the non-magnetic QDs and in the magnetic QWs.     

Spin transport properties in a non-uniform quantum wire modulated by both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit couplings

Spin transport properties in a non-uniform quantum wire (QW) in the presence of both the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit couplings (SOCs) is investigated by using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method combined with the Landauer Büttiker formalism. It is found that such a non-uniform quantum wire exhibits considerable spin polarization in its conductance in the influence of both the Rashba and Dresselhaus SOCs, and that the two SOCs' strengths strongly affect both the magnitude and sign of the electron spin polarization. Interestingly, the Rashba and Dresselhaus SOCs play the same modulating role in the electron spin polarization. The proposed nanostructure can potentially be utilized to devise an all-electrical spintronic device.     

Metastable and spin-polarized states in electron systems with localized electron–electron interaction

We study the formation of spontaneous spin polarization in inhomogeneous electron systems with pair interaction localized in a small region that is not separated by a barrier from surrounding gas of non-interacting electrons. Such a system is interesting as a minimal model of a quantum point contact in which the electron–electron interaction is strong in a small constriction coupled to electron reservoirs without barriers. Based on the analysis of the grand potential within the self-consistent field approximation, we find that the formation of the polarized state strongly differs from the Bloch or Stoner transition in homogeneous interacting systems. The main difference is that a metastable state appears in the critical point in addition to the globally stable state, so that when the interaction parameter exceeds a critical value, two states coexist. One state has spin polarization and the other is unpolarized. Another feature is that the spin polarization increases continuously with the interaction parameter and has a square-root singularity in the critical point. We study the critical conditions and the grand potentials of the polarized and unpolarized states for one-dimensional and two-dimensional models in the case of extremely small size of the interaction region.     

Voltage-tunable spin electron beam splitter based on antiparallel double δ-magnetic-barrier nanostructure

We report on a theoretical study of spin-dependent Goos-Hänchen (GH) shift of electrons in antiparallel double δ-magnetic-barrier (MB) nanostructure under an applied voltage, which can be experimentally realized by depositing two metallic ferromagnetic (FM) stripes on top and bottom of the semiconductor heterostructure. GH shifts for spin electron beams across this device, is exactly calculated, with the help of the stationary phase method. It is shown that a considerable spin polarization of GH shifts can be achieved in this device for two δ-MBs with unidentical magnetic strengths. It also is shown that both magnitude and sign of spin polarization of GH shifts can be controlled by adjusting the electric potential induced by the applied voltage. These interesting properties may provide an effective approach of spin injection for spintronics application, and this device can be used as a voltage-tunable spin beam splitter.     

Tunnel barrier and noncollinear magnetization effects on shot noise in ferromagnetic/semiconductor/ferromagnetic heterojunctions

Based on the scattering approach, we investigate transport properties of electrons in a one-dimensional waveguide that contains a ferromagnetic/semiconductor/ferromagnetic heterojunction and tunnel barriers in the presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions. We simultaneously consider significant quantum size effects, quantum coherence, Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interactions and noncollinear magnetizations. It is found that the tunnel barrier plays a decisive role in the transmission coefficient and shot noise of the ballistic spin electron transport through the heterojunction. When the small tunnel barriers are considered, the transport properties of electrons are quite different from those without tunnel barriers.     

Thermospin phenomena in a quantum dot attached to ferromagnetic leads: Role of asymmetry and alignment

We study the thermospin effects in a system consisting of a quantum dot coupled to ferromagnetic leads. It is shown that sign reversal and oscillation of spin Seebeck coefficient are indicated as a function of device parameters. When the magnetizations of the leads are formed in parallel alignment, the spin Seebeck coefficient and the spin-FOM have their maximum values for the symmetric dot-lead coupling case. However, in the antiparallel case, the optimal device parameters depend mainly on the strength of the magnetic field.     

Non linear analysis of obliquely propagating spin electron acoustic wave in a partially spin polarized degenerate plasma

By employing the separated spin evolution quantum hydrodynamic model, non-linear evolution of obliquely propagating spin electron acoustic wave (SEAW) is presented. The solitary structures of SEAW is investigated through the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation derived using reductive perturbation method. From the first order perturbations we derive the dispersion relation of SEAW and find that both the spin polarization and the propagation angle reduce the phase velocity while the electron streaming enhances it. Using small amplitude approximation, the solitary structure of SEAW is analyzed and the effects of spin polarization, propagation angle and electron streaming on the SEA soliton are studied. Our numerical results demonstrate that the spin polarization and the propagation angle play a balancing act on the soliton structures. The possible applications of our investigation to the astrophysical environments like white dwarfs is also discussed.     

Transmission of electrons through ferromagnetic material and applications to detection of electron spin polarization

The salient features of the total low energy inelastic electron scattering cross section in transition metals are described by a constant term σ₀ plus a term σ_d that is proportional to the number of unoccupied d-orbitals. This simple model predicts that low energy electrons transmitted through a ferromagnetic ultrathin film acquire a transport spin polarization a(χ). Using the ratio σ₀/σ_d as the only adjustable parameter, the model predicts the enhancement of the spin polarization of the low energy cascade electrons as well as a(χ) in reasonable agreement with the existing observations on Fe, Co and Ni. A detector for electron spin polarization P based on the spin dependent transmission of electrons through ferromagnetic material is proposed which should be superior to existing P-detectors by 1–2 orders of magnitude.     

Interplay of spin accumulation and Coulomb blockade in double ferromagnetic junctions

Single-electron tunneling in a double junction in which a nonmagnetic metallic island is separated from two ferromagnetic electrodes by tunnel barriers, is analysed theoretically in the sequential tunneling regime and for an arbitrary intrinsic spin relaxation time on the island. It is shown that nonequilibrium spin polarization of the island results in tunnel magnetoresistance due to rotation of the electrode magnetizations from antiparallel to parallel alignment. It is also shown that discrete charging of the island gives rise to a fine structure in the voltage dependence of the island spin polarization and tunnel magnetoresistance     

Spin-dependent resonant tunneling in a periodic non-magnetic heterostructure with spin-orbit effects

We theoretically investigate the electron transport in a periodic non-magnetic heterostructure with both Dresselhaus and Rashba spin-orbit effects. We show that the transport properties obviously depend on the number of periods and the large spin polarization can be achieved in such a structure. We also show that for m>1, the resonance splitting occurs in the transmission curves of both spin-up and spin-down electrons when the transmission curves are plotted as a function of the electron energy or the well width.     

Optimization of spin-triplet supercurrent in ferromagnetic Josephson junctions

We have observed long-range spin-triplet supercurrents in Josephson junctions containing ferromagnetic (F) materials, which are generated by noncollinear magnetizations between a central Co/Ru/Co synthetic antiferromagnet and two outer thin F layers. Here we show that the spin-triplet supercurrent is enhanced up to 20 times after our samples are subject to a large in-plane field. This occurs because the synthetic antiferromagnet undergoes a "spin-flop" transition, whereby the two Co layer magnetizations end up nearly perpendicular to the magnetizations of the two thin F layers. We report direct experimental evidence for the spin-flop transition from scanning electron microscopy with polarization analysis and from spin-polarized neutron reflectometry. These results represent a first step toward experimental control of spin-triplet supercurrents.     

Enhanced spin polarization in an asymmetric magnetic graphene superlattice

The authors investigate the spin-resolved transport through an asymmetrical magnetic graphene superlattice (MGS) consisting of the periodic barriers with abnormal one in height. To quantitatively depict the asymmetrical MGS, an asymmetry factor has been introduced to measure the height change of the abnormal barrier. It is shown that the spin filter effect is strongly enhanced by the barrier asymmetry both in the Klein and the classical tunneling regimes. In the presence of abnormal barrier, the conductance with certain spin direction is suppressed with respect to different tunneling regimes, and thus high spin polarization with opposite sign can be achieved.