1. k-space spin filtering effect in the epitaxial Fe/Au/Fe/GaAs(001) spin-valve
- Author
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S. Di Matteo, B. Lépine, Philippe Schieffer, Gabriel Delhaye, Marie Hervé, Yann Claveau, Sylvain Tricot, Pascal Turban, Institut de Physique de Rennes (IPR), Université de Rennes 1 (UR1), Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Université de Rennes (UNIV-RENNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Région Bretagne, Rennes Métropole, and Université de Rennes (UR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
Materials science ,Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,Condensed matter physics ,business.industry ,Schottky barrier ,Spin valve ,Giant magnetoresistance ,02 engineering and technology ,Condensed Matter::Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall Effect ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Epitaxy ,01 natural sciences ,Gallium arsenide ,Condensed Matter::Materials Science ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Effective mass (solid-state physics) ,Semiconductor ,chemistry ,Ferromagnetism ,0103 physical sciences ,[PHYS.COND.CM-MS]Physics [physics]/Condensed Matter [cond-mat]/Materials Science [cond-mat.mtrl-sci] ,010306 general physics ,0210 nano-technology ,business - Abstract
International audience; The hot-electron magnetotransport of epitaxial Fe/Au/Fe/GaAs(001) spin-valves is investigated by ballistic-electron magnetic microscopy. A magnetocurrent amplitude larger than 500% is observed at room temperature close to the Schottky barrier energy. Remarkably, this magnetocurrent is not significantly affected by the thickness reduction of ferromagnetic films, down to 5 atomic layers of the Fe(001) top electrode. This rather suggests a dominant interfacial spin-filtering effect. Finally, the magnetocurrent is strongly reduced when the effective mass of the semiconductor collector is increased. These observations are consistent with recent theoretical prediction of k-space spin-filtering effect in epitaxial spin-valves attached to a semiconducting lead.
- Published
- 2013
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