Electrical spin injection and accumulation at room temperature in an all-metal mesoscopic spin valve
Electrical spin injection and accumulation at room temperature in an all-metal mesoscopic spin valve
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DOI：
10.1038/35066533
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发表时间：
2001-03-15
期刊：
影响因子：
64.8
通讯作者：
van Wees, BJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jedema, FJ;Filip, AT;van Wees, BJ
寻找一种产生、控制和使用自旋极化电流的方法对于基于自旋的电子学(1-3) 或“自旋电子学”来说是一个重要的挑战。自旋电流和相关的自旋积累现象可以通过将电流从铁磁电极驱动到非磁性金属或半导体来实现。 15 年前，在温度低于 77 K 的单晶铝棒上进行的自旋注入实验 (4) 中首次证明了这一点。最近的实验 (5-8) 已经证明，使用圆偏振光的光学注入或磁性半导体的电注入，可以成功地对半导体中的自旋注入进行光学检测。然而，在室温下还不可能实现完全电自旋注入和检测。在这里，我们报告了室温电注入和自旋电流的检测，并观察了全金属横向介观自旋阀中的自旋积累，其中铁磁电极用于将自旋极化电流驱动到交叉的铜带中。我们预计通过优化材料和器件几何形状的选择应该可以获得更大的信号。
Finding a means to generate, control and use spin-polarized currents represents an important challenge for spin-based electronics(1-3), or 'spintronics'. Spin currents and the associated phenomenon of spin accumulation can be realized by driving a current from a ferromagnetic electrode into a non-magnetic metal or semiconductor. This was first demonstrated over 15 years ago in a spin injection experiment(4) on a single crystal aluminium bar at temperatures below 77 K. Recent experiments(5-8) have demonstrated successful optical detection of spin injection in semiconductors, using either optical injection by circularly polarized light or electrical injection from a magnetic semiconductor. However, it has not been possible to achieve fully electrical spin injection and detection at room temperature. Here we report room-temperature electrical injection and detection of spin currents and observe spin accumulation in an all-metal lateral mesoscopic spin valve, where ferromagnetic electrodes are used to drive a spin-polarized current into crossed copper strips. We anticipate that larger signals should be obtainable by optimizing the choice of materials and device geometry.