PECASE: Single Spin Transistors - Science, Application and Education

这是一项旨在探索自旋性质的提议，既从基本物理学的角度，也从它们与最近具有重要技术意义的自旋电子学领域的相关性来看。PI建议将单电子晶体管和磁隧道结的最新实验发展相结合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纵性的单自旋晶体管。该方案旨在制备和表征以碳纳米管为纳米岛的单自旋晶体管。它将揭示一维系统中单电子自旋的量子态和动力学行为的新的物理方面。该设备基于经验证的单电子晶体管架构和处理，该岛与铁磁电极弱耦合，以注入和检测极化自旋。这些纳米尺度的混合结构将被用来测试各种理论预测的现象，如增强的磁阻、单电子充电效应、电导振荡和自旋扩散。这项工作的一个新特点是通过使用磁性半导体进行自旋过滤，将完全极化的自旋注入一维碳纳米管。最终，在高度敏感的纳米结构中控制自旋的单个电子的局域化将使新的和更多功能的自旋电子器件成为可能，到目前为止，人们正在基于大量自旋极化电子的行为来追求这一点。这项拟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。为了继续对学生进行教育和培训，将招募研究生、本科生和高中生，特别是来自代表性不足群体的学生参加拟议的研究。这个项目为所有参与纳米科学教育的学生提供了一个极好的机会。他们将在多学科领域工作-物理、材料科学和纳米电子学，这是科学和技术的未来趋势。这些受过高等教育和培训的人将成为未来的教育工作者或基于SPIN的信息存储技术的技术骨干，而这种技术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.