Spin-resolved electron transport through magnetic nanostructures studied by a low-temperature multiprobe-STM

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influence of such spin currents on the sample's magnetic inhomogeneities are done independently. A much more elegant approach, as proposed in the framework of our proposal, is the use of a SP-STM setup with an atomically controlled spin state at the apex of the probe tip which can simultaneously be used as local spin injector or for local spin probing. Most importantly, the disturbing influence of a magnetic tip's stray field can be eliminated by the use of antiferromagnetically coated probe tips as pioneered by the Hamburg group. In contrast to planar electrodes where the spin polarization effects from the two oppositely oriented spin sublattices of an antiferromagnet would cancel each other, the use of an atomically sharp antiferromagnetic probe tip allows the spin state of the front tip atom to dominate the spin polarization effects. It has already been demonstrated by the Hamburg group that it is indeed the spin state of the front tip atom which determines the magnetic contrast in SP-STM imaging and the spin injection properties in current-induced spin torque experiments based on a SP-STM setup.