Electron spectroscopic studies of magnetic electrode interfaces in graphene spintronics for enhanced spin injection.

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The hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a promising spin-injection barrier material for graphene spintronics. In this study, the spin-polarized metastable de-excitation spectroscopy (SPMDS) was employed to elucidate the spin-dependent electronic states induced at the h-BN/magnetic metal interfaces which have considerable effects on the spin injection efficiency.The extreme surface sensitivity of the method enabled us to prove the orbital mixing and in-gap states formation on h-BN monolayer independently from strong signals from magnetic metals (Ni and Co). It was revealed that the in-gap states are spin-polarized parallel to the majority spins of Ni and Co. This result is essential for understanding the sign and magnitude of magnetoresistance of spintronics devices with h-BN tunnel barriers.