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Using artificially controlled ferromagnet (FM)–semiconductor (SC) interfaces, we study the decay of the nonlocal spin signals with increasing temperature in SC-based lateral spin-valve devices. When more than five atomic layers of Fe are inserted at the FM/SC interfaces, the temperature-dependent spin injection/detection efficiency (P inj / det ) can be interpreted in terms of the T 3 2 law, meaning a model of the thermally excited spin waves in the FM electrodes. For the FM/SC interfaces with the insufficient insertion of Fe atomic layers, on the other hand, the decay of P inj / det is more rapid than the T 3 2 curve. Using magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements, we find that more than five atomic layers of Fe inserted between FM and SC enable us to enhance the ferromagnetic nature of the FM/SC heterointerfaces. Thus, the ferromagnetism in the ultra-thin FM layer just on top of SC is strongly related to the temperature-dependent nonlocal spin transport in SC-based lateral spin-valve devices. We propose that the sufficient ferromagnetism near the FM/SC interface is essential for high-performance FM–SC hybrid devices above room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate temperature dependence of two-terminal local magnetoresistance (MR) effect for germanium (Ge)-based lateral spin-valve (LSV) devices with three different ferromagnet (FM)/Ge Schottky tunnel contacts. When we insert a 0.7-nm-thick Fe layer between Co-based Heusler alloy and Ge interfaces in LSV devices, the magnitude of the local MR signals is significantly improved from low temperatures to room temperature. However, the temperature dependence of the MR ratio is still large even for LSV devices with Fe insertion. From the analysis based on the standard theory, the temperature-dependent MR ratio can be interpreted in terms of thermally excited spin waves ($T^{3/{2}}$ law) in FM contacts. The physical origin of the decay of the two-terminal MR ratio in Ge-based LSV devices is the same as that of the four-terminal nonlocal spin signals because small temperature dependence of contact resistance is demonstrated in FM/Ge Schottky tunnel contacts which show almost linear $|J|$ – $V$ characteristics and low interface resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetotransport properties of La2/3Sr1/3MnO3/LaAlO3/Pt tunnel junctions have been thoroughly analyzed, as a function of temperature and magnetic field, to test the suitability of LaAlO3 for insulating barriers and spin injection processes. The insulating behavior of LaAlO3 maintained down to 1-2nm (corresponding to 4-5 unit cells) renders this material useful as tunnel barrier. The temperature dependence of the junction resistance, R(T), down to 200K confirms direct tunneling as the dominant conduction channel. The barrier parameters of the junctions, φ0 and s, are estimated using Simmons' model in the intermediate voltage range. The energy of the barrier was estimated to be φ0~0.4V at room temperature. The dependence of R(T) and φ0 on the magnetic field shows an anisotropic tunneling magnetoresistance of ~4% at low T when changing the direction of the magnetization with respect to the current flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of using electron spins as bits for highly efficient computation coupled with non-volatile data storage has driven an intense international research effort over the past decade. Such an approach, known as spin-based electronics or spintronics, is considered to be a promising alternative to charge-based electronics in future integrated circuit technologies. Many proposed spin-based devices, such as the well-known spin-transistor, require injection of spin polarized currents from ferromagnetic layers into semiconductor channels, where the degree of injected spin polarization is crucial to the overall device performance. Several ferromagnetic Heusler alloys are predicted to be half-metallic, meaning 100% spin-polarized at the Fermi level, and hence considered to be excellent candidates for electrical spin injection. Furthermore, they exhibit high Curie temperatures and close lattice matching to III-V semiconductors. Despite their promise, Heusler alloy/semiconductor heterostructures investigated in the past decade have failed to fulfill the expectation of near perfect spin injection and in certain cases have even demonstrated inferior behavior compared to their elemental ferromagnetic counterparts. To address this problem, a slew of theoretical and experimental work has emerged studying Heusler alloy/semiconductor interface properties. Here, we review the dominant prohibitive materials challenges that have been identified, namely atomic disorder in the Heusler alloy and in-diffusion of magnetic impurities into the semiconductor, and their ensuing detrimental effects on spin injection. To mitigate these effects, we propose the incorporation of half-metallic Heusler alloys grown at high temperatures (>200 °C) along with insertion of a MgO tunnel barrier at the ferromagnet/semiconductor interface to minimize magnetic impurity in-diffusion and potentially act as a spin-filter. By considering evidence from a variety of structural, optical, and electrical studies, we hope to paint a realistic picture of the materials environment encountered by spins upon injection from Heusler alloys into semiconductors. Finally, we review several emerging device paradigms that utilize Heusler alloys as sources of spin polarized electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the electron spin relaxation of n-type InAs quantum wires by numerically solving the fully microscopic kinetic spin Bloch equations with the relevant scattering explicitly included. We find that the quantum-wire size and the growth direction influence the spin relaxation time by modulating the spin-orbit coupling. Due to intersubband scattering in connection with the spin-orbit interaction, spin-relaxation in quantum wires can show different characteristics from those in bulk or quantum wells and can be effectively manipulated by various means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditions for the fabrication of lateral semiconductor spin devices with a high efficiency of spin injection have been revealed. Technological aspects of the formation of magnetic elements of a spin device, its electric contacts, and a thin MgO dielectric layer necessary for the efficient injection of spin-polarized electrons have been considered in detail. The degree of polarization of electrons for InSb about 25% has been obtained for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic field can influence photoluminescence, electroluminescence, photocurrent, injection current, and dielectric constant in organic materials, organic–inorganic hybrids, and nanoparticles at room temperature by re-distributing spin populations, generating emerging phenomena including magneto-photoluminescence, magneto-electroluminescence, magneto-photocurrent, magneto-electrical current, and magneto-dielectrics. These so-called intrinsic magnetic field effects (MFEs) can be observed in linear and non-linear regimes under one-photon and two-photon excitations in both low- and high-orbital materials. On the other hand, spin injection can be realized to influence spin-dependent excited states and electrical conduction via organic/ferromagnetic hybrid interface, leading to extrinsic MFEs. In last decades, MFEs have been serving as a unique experimental tool to reveal spin-dependent processes in excited states, electrical transport, and polarization in light-emitting diodes, solar cells, memories, field-effect transistors, and lasing devices. Very recently, they provide critical understanding on the operating mechanisms in advanced organic optoelectronic materials such as thermally activated delayed fluorescence light-emitting materials, non-fullerene photovoltaic bulk-heterojunctions, and organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites. While MFEs were initially realized by operating spin states in organic semiconducting materials with delocalized π electrons under negligible orbital momentum, recent studies indicate that MFEs can also be achieved under strong orbital momentum and Rashba effect in light emission, photovoltaics, and dielectric polarization. The transition of MFEs from the spin regime to the orbital regime creates new opportunities to versatilely control light-emitting, photovoltaic, lasing, and dielectric properties by using long-range Coulomb and short-range spin–spin interactions between orbitals. This article reviews recent progress on MFEs with the focus on elucidating fundamental mechanisms to control optical, electrical, optoelectronic, and polarization behaviors via spin-dependent excited states, electrical transport, and dielectric polarization. In this article both representative experimental results and mainstream theoretical models are presented to understand MFEs in the spin and orbital regimes for organic materials, nanoparticles, and organic–inorganic hybrids under linear and non-linear excitation regimes with emphasis on underlying spin-dependent processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional system with Rashba spin-orbit interaction, named as Rashba film with transverse confinement is considered. Spin dependent behavior of the Rashba film is investigated through two possible, even and odd, solutions. The spin dependent eigenfunctions, eigenvalues, and quantization conditions are derived, and energy dispersion relations are determined. Even and odd solutions are characterized and a mapping between them is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrated electrical spin injection into an AlGaAs/GaAs-based high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) system using Co2MnSi as a spin source. A non-local spin-valve signal was observed from 4.2 K to room temperature. Interestingly, the spin-valve signal does not show a monotonic decrease with increasing temperature and reaches a peak at about 80 K. This contrasts with the result observed in bulk GaAs, in which a monotonic decrease in spin-valve signals with increasing temperature was observed. Moreover, the spin-valve signal decreases by a factor of about 5.6 with increasing temperature from 4.2 K to 294 K, and this factor is smaller than those values reported in bulk GaAs devices. This result suggests that the spin-valve signal in a 2DEG device is less sensitive to temperature than that in a bulk device, which is promising for realizing future spin transistors that can operate at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical spin injection into and spin extraction from a wide-bandgap semiconductor SiC at room temperature were demonstrated via Schottky junctions. The spin relaxation time of SiC could reach 300 ps, overwhelming that of Si with similar carrier density due to the smaller atomic number. We also found that there existed two channels in SiC/CoFeB Schottky junctions for spin relaxation, one from bulk SiC and the other from interfacial defect states within the barrier whose spin relaxation times were about 1 ns. The bias condition controlled transport channels via bulk or defect states within the barrier and then affected the effective spin relaxation process. Realization of spin injection into SiC shed light on spintronics of wide-bandgap semiconductors such as spin-resolved blue light emitting diodes and high power/temperature spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the spin properties of a two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) formed at the contact layer of a p-type GaAs/AlAs resonant tunneling diode (RTD). We have measured the polarized-resolved photoluminescence of the RTD as a function of bias voltage, laser intensity and external magnetic field up to 15T. By tuning the voltage and the laser intensity, we are able to change the spin-splitting from the 2DHG from almost 0 meV to 5 meV and its polarization degree from − 40% to + 50% at 15T. These results are attributed to changes of the local electric field applied to the two-dimensional gas which affects the valence band and the hole Rashba spin-orbit effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the prospects for thermal spin-injection from iron into gallium arsenide via the application of electrical noise. By estimating the applied effective temperature-equivalent gradients, we characterize the magnitude of any electrical part of the thermal spin-injection efficiency or the spin-dependent Seebeck effect. The magnitude of the non-local spin signal associated with this effect suggests that temperature differences on the order of ~100K would be needed for true thermal spin-injection experiments. The large size of the effective temperature gradients induced by the noise-based method means that even very small thermo-electric effects can be quantified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the spin transport in nano-scale silicon (Si)-based spin-valve devices with Fe electrodes, MgO/Ge tunnel barriers, and a 20 nm-long Si channel. We observed a clear spin-valve effect when a magnetic field was applied in the film plane along and perpendicular to the Si channel transport direction. Systematic investigations of the bias voltage dependence, temperature dependence, and magnetic-field direction dependence of the magnetoresistance indicate that the observed spin-valve effect is governed by the spin transport through the nano-scale Si channel. The spinvalve effect remains observable up to 200 K. For the device with MgO/Ge tunnel barriers, with a bias voltage of 1.7V at 50K, the spin-dependent output voltage is 13 mV, which is among the highest values reported so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mn-assisted molecular beam epitaxy is used for the growth of (In,Mn)As nanowires (NWs) on GaAs(111)B. The transmission electron microscopy measurements revealed that despite the relatively high growth temperature regime this technique can be used to obtain (In,Mn)As NWs with high crystalline quality without any crystal defects, such as dislocations, stacking faults or precipitates inside the investigated NWs or on their side-walls, although the growth processes of NWs were accompanied by the formation of MnAs precipitates between the NWs at the interface of the wetting layer. The results obtained are of importance for the realization of new spintronic nanostructured materials. (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strong bias asymmetry of the spin-injection efficiency through an epitaxial Fe/GaAs Schottky tunnel contact is observed. Low-temperature post-growth thermal annealing is shown to strongly affect the spin-injection efficiency. The annealing leads either to a reduction or an enhancement. The spin accumulation is addressed electrically in a lateral spin-valve geometry using a non-local spin-valve setup at liquid helium temperatures. A spin-injection efficiency of up to 5.5% is estimated from experimental results. The electrical properties of the Schottky tunnel diode do not reflect the bias asymmetry and the changes in the spin-injection efficiency during annealing. Formation of spin-polarized interface states (IS) close to the Fermi-level is a possible explanation. The IS will not only radically affect the spin-injection but also the spin-detection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the effect of the oft-neglected cubic terms of the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling on the longitudinal current response of a two-dimensional electron gas with both Rashba and linear Dresselhaus interactions. For a quantum well grown in the [001] direction, the changes caused by these nonlinear-in-momentum terms on the absorption spectrum become more notable under SU(2) symmetry conditions, when the Rashba and linear Dresselhaus coupling strengths are tuned to be equal. The longitudinal optical response no longer vanishes then and shows a strong dependence on the direction of the externally applied electric field, giving a signature of the relative size of several spin-orbit contributions. This anisotropic response arises from the nonisotropic splitting of the spin states induced by the interplay of Rashba and Dresselhaus couplings. However, the presence of cubic terms introduces characteristic spectral features and can modify the overall shape of the spectra for some values of the relative sizes of the spin-orbit parameters. We compare this behavior to the case of a sample with [110] crystal orientation which, under conditions of spin-preserving symmetry, has a collinear spin-orbit vector field that leads to vanishing conductivity, even in the presence of cubic terms. In addition to the control through the driven frequency or electrical gating, such a directional aspect of the current response suggests new ways of manipulation and supports the use of interband optics as a sensitive probe of spin-orbit mechanisms in semiconductor spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a strong bias voltage dependence of magnetoresistance (MR) in CoFeB/MgO/Si spin-injection tunnel contacts using the three-terminal Hanle geometry. When a bias voltage is relatively large, the MR is composed of two characteristic signals: a conventional Hanle signal observed at a low magnetic field, which is due to the precession of injected spins, and another signal originating from the rotation of the magnetization at a larger magnetic field. In contrast, for a small bias voltage, additional signals appear at a wide range of magnetic fields, which occasionally overwhelms the conventional Hanle signals. Because the additional signals are pronounced at a low bias and are significantly reduced by annealing at moderate temperatures, they can be attributed to multi-step tunneling via defect states at the interfaces or tunnel barrier. Our results demonstrate that the spin injection signal caused by the defect states can be evaluated by its bias voltage dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional hole gases (2DHGs) have attracted recent attention for their unique quantum physics and potential applications in areas including spintronics and quantum computing. However, their properties remain relatively unexplored, motivating the use of different techniques to study them. We used terahertz magneto-optical spectroscopy to investigate the cyclotron resonance frequency in a high mobility 2DHG, revealing a nonlinear dependence on the applied magnetic field. This is shown to be due to the complex non-parabolic valence band structure of the 2DHG, as verified by multiband Landau level calculations. We also find that impurity scattering dominates cyclotron resonance decay in the 2DHG, in contrast with the dominance of superradiant damping in two-dimensional electron gases. Our results shed light on the properties of 2DHGs, motivating further studies of these unique 2D nanosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The requirement for high-density memory integration advances the development of newly structured spintronic devices, which have reduced stray fields and are insensitive to magnetic field perturbations. This could be visualized in magnetic tunnel junctions incorporating anti-ferromagnetic instead of ferromagnetic electrodes. Here, room-temperature anti-ferromangnet (AFM)-controlled tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance in a novel perpendicular junction is reported, where the IrMn AFM stays immediately at both sides of AlO x tunnel barrier as the functional layers. Bi-stable resistance states governed by the relative arrangement of uncompensated anti-ferromagnetic IrMn moments are obtained here, rather than the traditional spin-valve signal observed in ferromagnet-based tunnel junctions. The experimental observation of room-temperature tunneling magnetoresistance controlled directly by AFM is practically significant and may pave the way for new-generation memories based on AFM spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article gives an overview on the advance of spin noise spectroscopy (SNS) in semiconductors in the past 8 years from the first measurements in bulk n-GaAs [Oestreich et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 216603 (2005)] up to the recent achievement of optical detection of the intrinsic spin fluctuations of a single hole confined in an individual self-assembled quantum dot [Dahbashi et al., arXiv:1306.3183 (2013)]. We discuss the general technical implementation of optical SNS and the invaluable profit of the introduction of real-time fast Fourier transform analysis into the data acquisition. By now, the full spin dynamic from the milli- to picosecond timescales can be addressed by SNS and the technique quickly strides ahead to enable real quantum non-demolition measurements in semiconductors. Spin noise spectra recorded in 2005 in bulk n-GaAs with approximately 109 electron spins (Oestreich et al.) and 2013 (Dahbashi et al.) for a single hole spin. The integration time for the latter is more than a factor of 40 shorter due to the significant advances in the measurement technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We review on time and spatially resolved two-color pump-probe magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) microscopy studies of electron spins in bulk n-GaAs and GaAs (110) quantum wells (QWs) at low lattice temperatures. The influence of photocarrier heating by above-bandgap optical spin excitation on the spatially resolved magneto-optical spin detection is considered in detail. We demonstrate that a continuous-wave (cw) measurement of the local Kerr rotation at a fixed arbitrary probe wavelength in general does not correctly reveal the local spin polarization when hot electrons are present. For bulk GaAs we determine the true lateral electron spin polarization profile from cw measurements of the spatial dependence of the full excitonic Kerr rotation spectrum. For the (110) QWs, we directly obtain the electron spin diffusion coefficient from picosecond real space imaging of the time evolution of an optically excited electron spin packet, which we observe with a spectrally broad probe pulse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the prediction of the spin Hall effect more than 40 years ago, significant progress was made in theoretical description as well as in experimental observation, especially in the last decade. In this article, we present three different concepts and measurement geometries for all-electrical detection of the direct and the inverse spin Hall effect in semiconductors. Based on experiments with n- and p-doped GaAs microstructures, we describe our experimental approaches and methods to experimentally identify the spin Hall effect and compare our results to previous experiments and theoretical considerations. Device geometry for the detection of the direct spin Hall effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CoFe thickness (tCoFe) dependence of spin injection efficiency was investigated for Co2MnSi/CoFe/n-GaAs junctions. The ΔVNL/I value, which is a measure of spin injection efficiency, strongly depended on tCoFe, where ΔVNL is the amplitude of a nonlocal spin-valve signal, and I is an injection current. Importantly, the maximum value of ΔVNL/I for a Co2MnSi/CoFe/n-GaAs junction was one order of magnitude higher than that for a CoFe/n-GaAs junction, indicating that a Co2MnSi electrode works as a highly polarized spin source. No clear spin signal, on the other hand, was observed for a Co2MnSi/n-GaAs junction due to diffusion of Mn atoms into the GaAs channel. Secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis indicated that the CoFe insertion effectively suppressed the diffusion of Mn into GaAs, resulting in improved spin injection properties compared with those for a Co2MnSi/n-GaAs junction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferromagnetic electrodes play a crucial role in magnetoresistance effect and spin injection, whereas the essential features of non-magnetic metal electrodes in spintronics are commonly ignored except for their electrical conductivity. Here, we verify that the room-temperature tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR) behavior in antiferromagnet-based [Pt/Co]/IrMn/AlOx/metal (metal = Pt, Au, Cu, Al) junctions is insensitive to the top metal electrodes. Similar out-of-plane signals are detected for different electrodes, in contrast to the varied shapes of in-plane TAMR curves which are most likely attributed to the differences in the multidomain structure of the magnetic electrode. This would add a different dimension to spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate the electrical injection and detection of spin-polarized electrons in the Co2FeSi/GaAs hybrid system using lateral transport structures. Spin valve signatures and characteristic Hanle curves are observed both in the non-local and the local configuration. The comparatively large magnitude of the local spin valve signal and the high signal-to-noise ratio are attributed to the large spin polarization at the Fermi energy of Co2FeSi in the well-ordered L21 phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the dynamic nuclear spin polarization in an n-GaAs lateral channel induced by electrical spin injection from a (Ga,Mn)As/n-GaAs spin Esaki diode. Signatures of nuclear spin polarization are studied in both three-terminal and non-local voltage signals, where a strong electron spin depolarization feature is observed close to zero magnetic field. This is due to the large nuclear field induced in the channel through hyperfine interaction between injected electron spins and localized nuclear spins. We study the time evolution of the dynamic nuclear spin polarization and evaluate polarization and relaxation times of nuclear spins in the channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on microwave (mw) radiation induced electric currents in (Cd,Mn)Te/(Cd,Mg)Te and InAs/(In,Ga)As quantum wells subjected to an external in-plane magnetic field. The current generation is attributed to the spin-dependent energy relaxation of electrons heated by mw radiation. The relaxation produces equal and oppositely directed electron flows in the spin-up and spin-down subbands yielding a pure spin current. The Zeeman splitting of the subbands in the magnetic field leads to the conversion of the spin flow into a spin-polarized electric current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the structural impact on graphene and multi-layers graphene of the growth by sputtering of tunnel barriers. Sputtered Al2O3 and MgO barriers were chosen for their well-known efficiency as spin injectors in spintronics devices. The impact of the growth on the structure of graphene and up to 4-layer flakes was analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. This study reveals that for Al2O3 growth, the impact is moderate for a monolayer and decreases sharply for bilayers and above. In the case of MgO all the flakes underwent a strong amorphization. Moreover, this reveals that while single layer graphene is believed to offer the best spin transport properties, the better robustness of multilayer graphene may ultimately make it a better choice for spintronics devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a spin injector consisting of a quantum dot (QD), which is coupled to two leads, to separate either spin-up or spin-down electrons from one lead into the other. Meanwhile, a single electron spin state can also be written into the QD. It works mainly due to the spin bias in one of the leads, which has been realized in recent experiments by Frolov et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 116802 (2009); Nature (London) 458, 868 (2009)], and the Coulomb blockade effect in the QD. This device is realizable with current technologies and may have practical use in spintronics or quantum processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial distribution of dynamic nuclear spin polarization (DNP) has been investigated in a lateral all-semiconductor spin-injection device based on a (Ga,Mn)As/n+-GaAs spin-Esaki diode. The DNP induced by the hyperfine interaction has been probed via satellite peaks in non-local Hanle-type spin precession signals, indicating the recovery of electron spin polarization. A quantitative analysis using the self-consistent calculation reproduces the magnetic field position of the satellite peaks as a function of spin injection bias and injector-detector separation. The distance dependence of the Hanle curves reveals that the spin-lattice relaxation rather than the hyperfine interaction is the dominant mechanism of nuclear spin relaxation in the non-local region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electron spin dynamics is studied by time-resolved Kerr rotation in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells embedded in NIP structures grown on (111)A or (111)B-oriented substrates. In both cases the spin lifetimes are significantly increased by applying an external electric field, but this field has to point along the growth direction for structures grown on (111)A and opposite to it for the ones grown on (111)B. This extended electron spin lifetime is the result of the suppression of the D'yakonov-Perel spin relaxation mechanism [Sov. Phys. Solid State 13, 3023 (1972)] due to the cancellation effect of the internal Dresselhaus term [Phys. Rev. 100, 580 (1955)] with the external electric field induced Rashba one [J. Phys. C 17, 6039 (1984)], both governing the conduction band spin-orbit splitting. These results demonstrate the key role played by the growth direction in the design of spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A scheme is proposed to electrically measure the spin-momentum coupling in the topological insulator surface state by injection of spin polarized electrons from silicon. As an initial approach, devices were fabricated consisting of thin (<100 nm) exfoliated crystals of Bi2Se3 on n-type silicon with independent electrical contacts to silicon and Bi2Se3. Analysis of the temperature dependence of thermionic emission in reverse bias indicates a barrier height of 0.34 eV at the Si-Bi2Se3 interface. This robust Schottky barrier opens the possibility of original device designs based on sub-band gap internal photoemission from Bi2Se3 into Si. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic Schottky heterojunction fabricated from Co/p-Si is investigated. The diode showed proper rectifying property at all temperatures and evolution of a giant positive junction magnetoresistance is observed at temperatures below 50 K. Based on a simplified band structure, the spin polarization of the device is determined to be ∼31% at 10 K. A phenomenological model is proposed to explain the observed spintronic behavior of the device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]