PECASE: Single Spin Transistors - Science, Application and Education

这是一项旨在探索自旋特性的提议，既从基本物理学的角度出发，也从它们与最近技术上重要的自旋电子学领域的相关性出发。PI建议结合单电子晶体管和磁隧道结的最新实验进展来制造新的自旋电子器件，我们称之为基于单电子自旋的可控性和可操作性的单自旋晶体管。本课题旨在利用碳纳米管作为纳米岛，制备并表征单自旋晶体管。它将揭示一维系统中单电子自旋的量子态和动态行为的新物理方面。该器件基于已验证的单电子晶体管结构和工艺，将岛与铁磁电极弱耦合以注入和检测极化自旋。这些纳米级混合结构将用于测试各种理论预测的现象，如增强磁电阻，单电子充电效应，电导振荡和自旋扩散。这项研究的新颖之处在于，通过磁性半导体的自旋过滤，将完全极化的自旋注入一维碳纳米管中。最终，在高度敏感的纳米结构中，单个受控自旋电子的定位将使新颖和更通用的自旋电子设备成为可能，迄今为止，这是基于大量自旋极化电子的行为而追求的。这项提议的研究将对极高密度的磁信息存储、基于电子自旋的量子计算、磁电子传感器，以及未来尚未想象的自旋电子设备和系统至关重要。为了继续教育和培训学生，研究生，本科生和高中生，特别是来自代表性不足的群体，将被招募参加拟议的研究。该项目为参与纳米科学教育的学生（各级）提供了一个极好的机会。他们将在多学科领域工作-物理学，材料科学和纳米电子学，科学和技术的未来趋势。这些受过高等教育和训练的人将成为未来的教育工作者或基于旋转的信息存储技术的技术骨干，这在美国已经供不应求

This is a proposal aimed at exploring the spin properties, both from the fundamental physics point of view as well as from their relevance to the recent technologically important area of spintronics. The PI proposes to combine the recent experimental developments of single-electron transistors and magnetic tunnel junctions to fabricate new spinelectronics devices, which we call single spin transistors based on the controllability and manipulability of single-electron spins. This proposal aims to fabricate and characterize single spin transistors which use the carbon nanotube as the nano-sized island. It will reveal new physical aspects of the quantum states and dynamic behavior of single electron spins in the one dimensional system. This device is based on the proven single electron transistor architecture and processing, with the island weakly coupled to ferromagnetic electrodes to inject and detect polarized spins. These nanoscale hybrid structures will be used to test various theoretically predicted phenomena such as enhanced magnetoresistance, single electron charging effects, conductance oscillations, and spin diffusion. One of the novel features of this effort is to inject fully polarized spins into the one dimensional carbon nanotubes, by spin filtering through the use of a magnetic semiconductor. Ultimately, the localization of a single electron of controlled spin in a highly sensitive nanostructure will enable novel and more versatile spin electronic devices, which so far is being pursued based on the behavior of large numbers of spin-polarized electrons. The proposed research will be critical to extremely high-density magnetic information storage, electron-spin-based quantum computing, magneto-electronic sensors, and perhaps future spin electronic devices and systems yet to be imagined. To continue the education and training of students, graduate students, undergraduates and high school students, especially from the underrepresented groups, will be recruited to participate in the proposed research. This program represents an excellent opportunity for the students (of all levels) involved being educated in the nanoscience. They will work in multidisciplinary areas - physics, materials science, and nanoelectronics, the future trend in science and technology. These highly educated and trained people will become either future educators or the technical backbone of spin based information storage technology, which is already in short supply in the U.S.