Interplay between spin and charge effects in nanostructured systems

凝聚态物理中的自旋和电荷效应长期以来一直是分开研究的。在传统的铁磁性材料如Ni、Fe和Co中，自旋物理定义了磁性，其结果推动了信息存储行业的发展。另一方面，对于半导体材料，如Si和GaAs，研究重点一直放在它们的电荷特性上，研究结果主要应用于电子工业。几十年来，这两大凝聚态物理领域几乎没有交集，双方的研究人员也很少见面和交流。我的长期研究目标是为全世界对合并这两个领域的兴趣做出重大贡献，并研究各种材料系统中自旋和电荷效应之间的相互作用。本研究计划的重点是应用创新的实验工具来研究纳米结构中的自旋输运和自旋动力学。基于我在过去几年建立的专业知识，为了将自旋电子学应用与纳米技术相结合，我设定了以下具有挑战性的目标：在半导体中，自旋轨道耦合在基本带结构水平上桥接自旋和电荷效应。我的目标是通过弱反定域效应来研究它对纳米结构中相干电荷输运的影响。我们最新的研究结果使我们对这个话题有了相当深入的了解。在铁磁金属中，我的重点是纳米磁体中电流诱导的自旋动力学，这种效应可能会改变磁存储技术。我将使用微波光导光谱，这是我们最近建立的一种新技术，来研究磁动力学。自旋电子学应用的关键一步是将半导体与磁性结合起来。一种方法是制造混合器件，另一种方法是使用新型铁磁半导体材料。我的目标是研究这两个系统中的自旋动力学，以便为创建功能自旋电子学设备铺平道路。

Spin and charge effects in condensed matter physics have long been studied separately. In traditional ferromagnetic materials such as Ni, Fe, and Co, spin physics defines magnetic properties, and results achieved have driven the information storage industry. For semiconductor materials such as Si and GaAs on the other hand, the research focus has been on their charge properties, and results have been applied mainly by the electronics industry. For several decades, these two major fields of condensed matter physics have had little overlap, and researchers from the two sides have seldom met and communicated.  My long-term research goal is to contribute significantly to the increasing worldwide interest of merging the two fields, and investigating the interplay between spin and charge effects in various material systems. The focus of this research program is to apply innovative experimental tools to investigate spin transport and spin dynamics in nanostructures. Based on expertise I have established over the last few years, I have set the following challenging objectives, in order to combine spintronics applications with nanotechnology:     In semiconductors, spin-orbit coupling bridges spin and charge effects at the fundamental bandstructure level. My goal is to investigate its influence on coherent charge transport in nanostructures, via the weak antilocalization effect. Our latest results have brought us considerable insight into this topic.     In ferromagnet metals, my focus is on the current-induced spin dynamics in nanomagnets, an effect that may transform the magnetic storage technology. I will use microwave photoconductivity spectroscopy, a novel technique which we have recently established, to study magnetodynamics.     A crucial step for spintronics applications is to merge semiconductor with magnetism. One approach is to make hybrid devices, the other is to use novel ferromagnetic semiconductor materials. My goal is to investigate spin dynamics in both systems, in order to pave the way for creating functional spintronics devices.