Search

Improving the efficiency of spin generation, injection, and detection remains a key challenge for semiconductor spintronics. Electrical injection and optical orientation are two methods of creating spin polarization in semiconductors, which traditionally require specially tailored p-n junctions, tunnel or Schottky barriers. Alternatively, we introduce here a novel concept for spin-polarized electron emission/injection combining the optocoupler principle based on vacuum spin-polarized light-emitting diode (spin VLED) making it possible to measure the free electron beam polarization injected into the III-V heterostructure with quantum wells (QWs) based on the detection of polarized cathodoluminescence (CL). To study the spin-dependent emission/injection, we developed spin VLEDs, which consist of a compact proximity-focused vacuum tube with a spin-polarized electron source (p-GaAs(Cs,O) or Na2KSb) and the spin detector (III-V heterostructure), both activated to a negative electron affinity (NEA) state. The coupling between the photon helicity and the spin angular momentum of the electrons in the photoemission and injection/detection processes is realized without using either magnetic material or a magnetic field. Spin-current detection efficiency in spin VLED is found to be 27% at room temperature. The created vacuum spin LED paves the way for optical generation and spin manipulation in the developing vacuum semiconductor spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we theoretically investigate how to control spin filtering via a δ -doping for electrons in a magnetically and electrically modulated semiconductor nanostructure (MEMSN), which can be realized by patterning a ferromagnetic (FM) stripe and a Schottky-metal (SM) stripe on top and bottom of GaAs/AlxGa 1 − x As heterostructure in experiments, respectively. A considerable spin filtering effect still exists because of spin–orbit coupling (SOC), even if a δ -doping is included. Moreover, spin polarization ratio can be manipulated by δ -doping, which may lead to a structurally-controllable electron-spin filter for semiconductor spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we theoretically investigate how to control electron-spin polarization by δ-doping in a both magnetically and electrically confined semiconductor heterostructure. It is shown that, due to Zeeman coupling, a considerable spin polarization effect appears in the δ-doped device. It is also shown that both magnitude and sign of spin polarization can be tuned by changing weight or position of the δ-doping. Thus, a δ-doping controllable spin filter can be achieved for spintronics device applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spintronics, identifying an effective technique for generating spin-polarized current has fundamental importance. The spin-filtering effect across a ferromagnetic insulating layer originates from unequal tunneling barrier heights for spin-up and spin-down electrons, which has shown great promise for use in different ferromagnetic materials. However, the low spin-filtering efficiency in some materials can be ascribed partially to the difficulty in fabricating high-quality thin film with high Curie temperature and/or partially to the improper model used to extract the spin-filtering efficiency. In this work, a new technique is successfully developed to fabricate high quality, ferrimagnetic insulating γ-Fe2O3 films as spin filter. To extract the spin-filtering effect of γ-Fe2O3 films more accurately, a new model is proposed based on Fowler-Nordheim tunneling and Zeeman effect to obtain the spin polarization of the tunneling currents. Spin polarization of the tunneled current can be as high as −94.3% at 2 K in γ-Fe2O3 layer with 6.5 nm thick, and the spin polarization decays monotonically with temperature. Although the spin-filter effect is not very high at room temperature, this work demonstrates that spinel ferrites are very promising materials for spin injection into semiconductors at low temperature, which is important for development of novel spintronics devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]