arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Igor Zutic.
Magnetic anisotropies in quantum dots (QDs) doped with magnetic ions are discussed in terms of two frameworks: anisotropic $g$-factors and magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy. It is shown that even a simple model of zinc-blende p-doped QDs displays a rich diagram of magnetic anisotropies in the QD parameter space. Tuning the confinement allows to control magnetic easy axes in QDs in ways not available for the better-studied bulk.
This paper presents a novel design concept for spintronic nanoelectronics that emphasizes a seamless integration of spin-based memory and logic circuits. The building blocks are magneto-logic gates based on a hybrid graphene/ferromagnet material system. We use network search engines as a technology demonstration vehicle and present a spin-based circuit design with smaller area, faster speed, and lower energy consumption than the state-of-the-art CMOS counterparts. This design can also be applied in applications such as data compression, coding and image recognition. In the proposed scheme, over 100 spin-based logic operations are carried out before any need for a spin-charge conversion. Consequently, supporting CMOS electronics requires little power consumption. The spintronic-CMOS integrated system can be implemented on a single 3-D chip. These nonvolatile logic circuits hold potential for a paradigm shift in computing applications.
Recent experimental breakthroughs have demonstrated that the electron spin in silicon can be reliably injected and detected as well as transferred over distances exceeding 1 mm. We propose an on-chip communication paradigm which is based on modulating spin polarization of a constant current in silicon wires. We provide figures of merit for this scheme by studying spin relaxation and drift-diffusion models in silicon.
Studies of the superconducting proximity effect in normal conductor/superconductor $(N/S)$ junctions almost universally assume no effective electron-electron coupling in the $N$ region. While such an approximation leads to a simple description of the proximity effect, it is unclear how it could be rigorously justified. We reveal a much more complex picture of the proximity effect in $N/S$ bilayers, where $S$ is a clean s-wave BCS superconductor and $N$ is a simple metal with a repulsive effective electron coupling. We elucidate the proximity effect behavior using a highly accurate method to self-consistently solve the Bogoliubov-deGennes equations. We present our results for a wide range of values of the interface scattering, the Fermi wave vector mismatch, the temperature, and the ratio $g$ of the effective interaction strengths in the $N$ and $S$ region. We find that the repulsive interaction, represented by a negative $g$, strongly alters the signatures of the proximity effect as can be seen in the spatial dependence of the Cooper pair amplitude and the pair potential, as well as in the local density of states near the interface.
We provide an analytic study of the dynamics of semiconductor lasers with injection (pump) of spin-polarized electrons, previously considered in the steady-state regime. Using complementary approaches of quasi-static and small signal analyses, we elucidate how the spin modulation in semiconductor lasers can improve performance, as compared to the conventional (spin-unpolarized) counterparts. We reveal that the spin-polarized injection can lead to an enhanced bandwidth and desirable switching properties of spin-lasers.
1 Introduction 2 Simple model of spin injection 3 Spin-polarized transport: concepts and definitions 4 The standard model of spin injection: F/N junction 5 Nonequilibrium resistance and spin bottleneck 6 Transparent and tunnel contacts, conductivity mismatch 7 Silsbee-Johnson spin-charge coupling 8 Spin injection in F/N/F junctions 9 Nonlocal spin-injection geometry: Johnson-Silsbee spin injection experiment
Optical orientation is a highly efficient tool for the generation of nonequilibrium spin polarization in semiconductors. Combined with spin-polarized transport it offers new functionalities for conventional electronic devices, such as pn junction bipolar diodes or transistors. In nominally nonmagnetic junctions optical orientation can provide a source for spin capacitance--the bias-dependent nonequilibrium spin accumulation--or for spin-polarized current in bipolar spin-polarized solar cells. In magnetic junctions, the nonequilibrium spin polarization generated by spin orientation in a proximity of an equilibrium magnetization gives rise to the spin-voltaic effect (a realization of the Silsbee-Johnson coupling), enabling efficient control of electrical properties such as the I-V characteristics of the junctions by magnetic and optical fields. This article reviews the main results of investigations of spin-polarized and magnetic pn junctions, from spin capacitance to the spin-voltaic effect.
We formulate an analytical model for vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) with injection (pump) of spin-polarized electrons. Our results for two different modes of carrier recombination allow for a systematic analysis of the operational regimes of the spin-VCSELs. We demonstrate that threshold reduction by electrically-pumped spin-polarized carriers can be larger than previously assumed possible. Near the threshold, such VCSELs can act as effective non-linear filters of circularly-polarized light, owing to their spin-dependent gain.
We study quantum states of electrons in magnetically doped quantum dots as a function of exchange coupling between electron and impurity spins, the strength of Coulomb interaction, confining potential, and the number of electrons. The magnetic phase diagram of quantum dots, doped with a large number of magnetic Mn impurities, can be described by the energy gap in the spectrum of electrons and the mean field electron-Mn exchange coupling. A competition between these two parameters leads to a transition between spin-unpolarized and spin-polarized states, in the absence of applied magnetic field. Tuning the energy gap by electrostatic control of nonparabolicity of the confining potential can enable control of magnetization even at the fixed number of electrons. We illustrate our findings by directly comparing Mn-doped quantum dots with parabolic and Gaussian confining potential.
We study the influence of deformations on magnetic ordering in quantum dots doped with magnetic impurities. The reduction of symmetry and the associated deformation from circular to elliptical quantum confinement lead to the formation of piezomagnetic quantum dots. The strength of elliptical deformation can be controlled by the gate voltage to change the magnitude of magnetization, at a fixed number of carriers and in the absence of applied magnetic field. We reveal a reentrant magnetic ordering with the increase of elliptical deformation and suggest that the piezomagnetic quantum dots can be used as nanoscale magnetic switches.
An impressive success of spintronic applications has been typically realized in metal-based structures which utilize magnetoresistive effects for substantial improvements in the performance of computer hard drives and magnetic random access memories. Correspondingly, the theoretical understanding of spin-polarized transport is usually limited to a metallic regime in a linear response, which, while providing a good description for data storage and magnetic memory devices, is not sufficient for signal processing and digital logic. In contrast, much less is known about possible applications of semiconductor-based spintronics and spin-polarized transport in related structures which could utilize strong intrinsic nonlinearities in current-voltage characteristics to implement spin-based logic. Here we discuss the challenges for realizing a particular class of structures in semiconductor spintronics: our proposal for bipolar spintronic devices in which carriers of both polarities (electrons and holes) contribute to spin-charge coupling. We formulate the theoretical framework for bipolar spin-polarized transport, and describe several novel effects in two- and three-terminal structures which arise from the interplay between nonequilibrium spin and equilibrium magnetization.
We propose a model of carrier-mediated ferromagnetism in semiconductors that accounts for the temperature dependence of the carriers. The model permits analysis of the thermodynamic stability of competing magnetic states, opening the door to the construction of magnetic phase diagrams. As an example we analyze the stability of a possible reentrant ferromagnetic semiconductor, in which increasing temperature leads to an increased carrier density, such that the enhanced exchange coupling between magnetic impurities results in the onset of ferromagnetism as temperature is raised.
We study magnetism in magnetically doped quantum dots as a function of confining potential, particle numbers, temperature, and strength of Coulomb interactions. We explore possibility of tailoring magnetism by controlling the electron-electron Coulomb interaction, without changing the number of particles. The interplay of strong Coulomb interactions and quantum confinement leads to enhanced inhomogeneous magnetization which persist at higher temperatures than in the non-interacting case. The temperature of the onset of magnetization can be controlled by changing the number of particles as well as by modifying the quantum confinement and the strength of Coulomb interactions. We predict a series of electronic spin transitions which arise from the competition between the many-body gap and magnetic thermal fluctuations.
We combine Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy with density-functional-theory calculations to determine the atomic structure of the Fe/AlGaAs interface in spin-polarized light-emitting diodes. A 44% increase in spin-injection efficiency occurs after a low-temperature anneal, which produces an ordered, coherent interface consisting of a single atomic plane of alternating Fe and As atoms. First-principles transport calculations indicate that the increase in spin-injection efficiency is due to the abruptness and coherency of the annealed interface.
Exotic superconducting properties of Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ have provided strong support for an unconventional pairing symmetry. However, the extensive efforts over the past decade have not yet unambiguously resolved the controversy about the pairing symmetry in this material. While recent phase-sensitive experiments using flux modulation in Josephson junctions consisting of Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ and a conventional superconductor have been interpreted as conclusive evidence for a chiral spin-triplet pairing, we propose here an alternative interpretation. We show that an overlooked chiral spin-singlet pairing is also compatible with the observed phase shifts in Josephson junctions and propose further experiments which would distinguish it from its spin-triplet counterpart.
We report nonlocal spin injection and detection experiments on mesoscopic Co-Al2O3-Cu spin valves. We have observed a temperature dependent asymmetry in the nonlocal resistance between parallel and antiparallel configurations of the magnetic injector and detector. This strongly supports the existence of a nonequilibrium resistance that depends on the relative orientation of the detector magnetization and the nonequilibrium magnetization in the normal metal providing evidence for increasing interface spin scattering with temperature.
Spin injection and detection in silicon is a difficult problem, in part because the weak spin-orbit coupling and indirect gap preclude using standard optical techniques. We propose two ways to overcome this difficulty, and illustrate their operation by developing a model for spin-polarized transport across a heterojunction. We find that equilibrium spin polarization of holes leads to a strong modification of the spin and charge dynamics of electrons, and we show how the symmetry properties of the charge current can be exploited to detect spin injection in silicon using currently available techniques.
It is shown that magnetic bipolar transistors (MBT) can amplify currents even in the saturation regime, in which both the emitter-base and collector-base junctions are forward biased. The collector current and the current gain can change sign as they depend on the relative orientation of the equilibrium spin in the base and on the nonequilibrium spin in the emitter and collector. The predicted phenomena should be useful for electrical detection of nonequilibrium spins in semiconductors, as well as for magnetic control of current amplification and for current switching.