Nature creates electrons with two values of the spin projection quantum number. In certain applications, it is important to filter electrons with one spin projection from the rest. Such filtering is not trivial, since spin-dependent interactions are often weak, and cannot lead to any substantial effect. Here we propose an efficient spin filter based upon scattering from a two-dimensional crystal, which is made of aligned point magnets. The polarization of the outgoing electron flux is controlled by the crystal, and reaches maximum at specific values of the parameters. In our scheme, polarization increase is accompanied by higher reflectivity of the crystal. High transmission is feasible in scattering from a quantum cavity made of two crystals. Our findings can be used for studies of low-energy spin-dependent scattering from two-dimensional ordered structures made of magnetic atoms or aligned chiral molecules.
The physics of energy filtering in electronic transport through nanoscale barriers is a fundamental aspect in the context of electronic engineering of nanostructured thermoelectrics. In the context of thermoelectric generators, it aims to engineer the Seebeck coefficient to favorably increase the power factor and ultimately the power generated. In this work, we employ the incoherent non-equilibrium Green's function formalism to investigate in detail the physics of energy filtering and how it leads to a direct enhancement in power generation across nanostructured thermoelectrics featuring a sin…
Investigating in detail the physics of energy filtering through a single planar energy barrier in nanostructured thermoelectric generators, we reinforce the non-trivial result that the anticipated enhancement in generated power at a given efficiency via energy filtering is a characteristic of systems dominated by incoherent scattering and is absent in ballistic devices. In such cases, assuming an energy dependent relaxation time $τ(E)=kE^r$, we show that there exists a minimum value $r_{min}$ beyond which generation can be enhanced by embedding nanobarriers. For bulk generators with embedded n…
A microscopic approach is developed to scattering of surface states from a non-magnetic linear defect at a surface with strong spin-orbit interaction. Spin-selective reflection resonances in scattering of Rashba-split surface states by an atomic stripe are theoretically discovered in a proof-of-principle calculation for a model crystal potential. Spin-filtering properties of such linear defects are analyzed within an envelope-function formalism for a perturbed surface based on the Rashba Hamiltonian. The continuous Rashba model is found to be in full accord with the microscopic theory, which r…
We theoretically investigate magnetoresistance (MR) effects in connection with spin filtering in quantum-coherent transport through tunnel junctions based on non-magnetic/semimagnetic heterostructures. We find that spin filtering in conjunction with the suppression/enhancement of the spin-dependent Fermi seas in semimagnetic contacts gives rise to (i) spin-split kinks in the MR of single barriers and (ii) a robust beating pattern in the MR of double barriers with a semimagnetic well. We believe these are unique signatures for quantum filtering.
We present two theoretical schemes for spin filters in one-dimensional semiconductor quantum wires with spatially modulated Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) as well as weak magnetic potential. For case I, the SOC is periodic and the weak magnetic potential is applied uniformly along the wire. Full spin polarizations with opposite signs are obtained within two separated energy intervals. For case II, the weak magnetic potential is periodic while the SOC is uniform. An ideal negative/positive switching effect for spin polarization is realized by tuning the strength of SOC. The roles of SOC, magn…
Solid state magnetic field sensors based on magneto-resistance modulation find direct applications in communication devices, specifically in proximity detection, rotational reference detection and current sensing. In this work, we propose sensor structures based on the magneto-resistance physics of resonant spin-filtering and present device designs catered toward exceptional magnetic field sensing capabilities. Using the non-equilibrium Green's function spin transport formalism self consistently coupled to the Poisson's equation, we present highly-tunable pentalayer magnetic tunnel junction st…
We examine scattering properties of singular vertex of degree $n=2$ and $n=3$, taking advantage of a new form of representing the vertex boundary condition, which has been devised to approximate a singular vertex with finite potentials. We show that proper identification of $δ$ and $δ'$ components in the connection condition between outgoing lines enables the designing of quantum spectral branch-filters.
Spin dependent transport has been investigated for an {\it open shell singlet} diiron-oxo cluster. Currents and magnetoresistances have been studied, as a function of spin state, within the non-equilibrium Green's function approach. The applied bias can be used for tuning the sign of the observed magnetoresistance. A colossal magnetoresistance ratio has been determined, on the order of to 6000$%$, for hydrogen anchoring. Applied biases lower than 0.3 V, in conjunction with sulfur anchoring, induce a negative magnetoresistance due to lowering of the anchor-scatterer tunneling barrier. In additi…
We study the spin-resolved transport through magnetic nanostructures in monolayer and bilayer graphene. We take into account both the orbital effect of the inhomogeneous perpendicular magnetic field as well as the in-plane spin splitting due to the Zeeman interaction and to the exchange coupling possibly induced by the proximity of a ferromagnetic insulator. We find that a single barrier exhibits a wavevector-dependent spin filtering effect at energies close to the transmission threshold. This effect is significantly enhanced in a resonant double barrier configuration, where the spin polarizat…
Spin-dependent electronic transport properties of Fe-terminated zig-zag graphene nanoribbons (zGNR) have been studied using first-principles transport simulations. The spin configuration of proposed zGNR junction can be controlled with external magnetic field, and the tunneling junction show MR>1000 at small bias and is a perfect spin-filter by applying uniform external magnetic filed at small bias.
Strength of the the symmetry spin filtering effect (as defined by the asymptotic behavior of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) at large barrier thicknesses induced by this effect) is studied for the Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJ). Based on the analysis of the band structure of bulk Fe and complex band structure of MgO we predict \emph{native} for the symmetry spin filtering effect linear increase of the TMR in Fe/MgO/Fe MTJ with increasing number of MgO layers, $N$. \emph{Ab initio} calculations of transmission functions performed for the Fe/MgO/Fe MTJ confirm our theoretical pr…
The influence of external magnetic field switching $"$on$"$ and $"$off$"$ on the non-stationary spin-polarized currents in the system of correlated single-level quantum dot coupled to non-magnetic electronic reservoirs has been analyzed. It was shown that considered system can be used for the effective spin filtering by analyzing its non-stationary characteristics in particular range of applied bias voltage.
We investigate ballistic spin transport in a two dimensional electron gas system through magnetic barriers of various geometries using the transfer matrix method. While most of the previous studies have focused on the effect of magnetic barriers perpendicular to the two dimensional electron gas plane, we concentrate on the case of magnetic barriers parallel to the plane. We show that resonant oscillation occurs in the transmission probability without electrostatic potential modulation which is an essential ingredient in the case of ordinary out-of-plane magnetic barriers. Transmission probabil…
We report on first-principles calculations of spin-dependent properties in graphene induced by its interaction with a nearby magnetic insulator (Europium oxide, EuO). The magnetic proximity effect results in spin polarization of graphene $π$ orbitals by up to 24 %, together with large exchange splitting bandgap of about 36 meV. The position of the Dirac cone is further shown to depend strongly on the graphene-EuO interlayer. These findings point towards the possible engineering of spin gating by proximity effect at relatively high temperature, which stands as a hallmark for future all-spin inf…
Motivated by the recent achievements in manipulation of C60 molecules in STM experiments, we study theoretically the structure and electronic properties of a C60 molecule in an STM-tunneljunction with a magnetic tip and magnetic adatom on a Cu(111) surface from first-principle calculations. For the case of V tip/adatom, we demonstrate how spin-coupling between the magnetic V atoms mediated by the C60 can be observed in the electronic transport, which display a strong spin-filtering effect, allowing mainly majority-spin electrons to pass(>95%). Moreover, we find a significant change in the cond…
A spin filtering device using quantum spin interference is theoretically proposed in a GaAs/AlGaAs electron gas that has both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. The device achieves polarized electron currents by separating spin up and spin down components without a magnetic field gradient. We find two broad spin filtering regimes, one where the interferometer has symmetrical arms, where a small magnetic flux is needed to achieve spin separation, and the other with asymmetric arms where the change in path length renders an extra phase emulating the effects of a magnetic field. We iden…
Free-standing ferromagnetic nano-membranes with thicknesses below 10 nm could effectively be used for spin selective filtering of electrons. Such membranes can work both as spin detectors in electron-spectroscopy, -microscopy and -diffraction as well as a source of spin polarized electrons. Theoretical studies and previous work has indicated that ferromagnetic membranes of a few nm have Sherman functions in the 30-60 % range and would provide an effective alternative to current spin detection technology. Here we demonstrate the fabrication of gold capped Co nano-membranes with a 2.6 nm Co laye…
We propose spin transfer torque--magnetoresistive random access memory (STT-MRAM) based on magneto-resistance and spin transfer torque physics of band-pass spin filtering. Utilizing the electronic analogs of optical phenomena such as anti-reflection coating and resonance for spintronic devices, we present the design of an STT-MRAM device with improved features when compared with a traditional trilayer device. The device consists of a superlattice heterostructure terminated with the anti-reflective regions sandwiched between the fixed and free ferromagnetic layers. Employing the Green's functio…
We propose a simple model quantum network consisting of diamond-shaped plaquettes with deterministic distribution of magnetic and non-magnetic atoms in presence of a uniform external magnetic flux in each plaquette and predict that such a simple model can be a prospective candidate for spin filter as well as flux driven spintronic switch. The orientations and the amplitudes of the substrate magnetic moments play a crucial role in the energy band engineering of the two spin channels which essentially gives us a control over the spin transmission leading to a spin filtering effect. The externall…
We investigate the enhancement of spin polarization in a quantum wire in the presence of a constriction and a spin-orbit coupling segment. It is shown that the spin-filtering effect is significantly heightened in comparison with the configuration without the constriction. It is understood in the studies that the constriction structure plays a critical role in enhancing the spin filtering by means of confining the incident electrons to occupy one channel only while the outgoing electrons occupy two channels. The enhancement of spin-filtering has also been analyzed within the perturbation theory…
All van der Waals (vdW) Fe3GeTe2/Cr2Ge2Te6/graphite magnetic heterojunctions have been fabricated via mechanical exfoliation and stacking, and their magnetotransport properties are studied in detail. At low bias voltages large negative junction magnetoresistances have been observed and are attributed to spin-conserving tunneling transport across the insulating Cr2Ge2Te6 layer. With increasing bias, a crossover to Fowler-Nordheim tunneling takes place. The negative sign of the tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) suggests that the bottom of conduction band in Cr2Ge2Te6 belongs to minority spins, o…
Experimental studies of FeCoB/MgO/FeCoB tunnel junctions indicate that boron diffuses into MgO during rf-sputtering and forms polycrystalline Mg-B-O regions. These tunnel junctions provide high tunneling magnetoresistance values and low RA products. However the crystal structure of the Mg-B-O region remains unknown. Using density functional techniques, I examine three potential Mg(B) oxides including Mg$_{2}$B$_{2}$O$_{5}$ (monoclinic and triclinic) and the orthorhombic mineral Kotoite (Mg$_3$B$_2$O$_6$). Kotoite is the best candidate for formation in magnetic tunnel junctions. The (100) surfa…
By using non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method and tight-binding (TB) approximation, we investigated a perfect control on spin transport in a zigzag $α^{\prime}$-boron nanoribbon ($α^{\prime}$-BNR) as the must semi-conducting structure of borophene. It has been found that when an $α^{\prime}$-BNR is exposed to an out-of-plane exchange magnetic field, spin splitting occurs for both spin-up and spin-down states in specific ranges of energy. Therefore, the spin polarization of current could be controlled by adjusting the energy of incoming electrons by means of an external back-gate volt…
Spin-polarized current through an Al nanoparticle in tunnel contact with two ferromagnets is measured as a function of the direction of the applied magnetic field. The nanoparticle filters the spin of injected electrons along a direction specified by the magnetic field. The characteristic field scale for the filtering corresponds to a lower limit of $8ns$ for the spin-dephasing time. Spin polarized current versus applied voltage increases stepwise, confirming that the spin relaxation time is long only in the ground state and the low-lying excited states of the nanoparticle.
We calculate the current-voltage characteristic of a one-dimensional band insulator with magnetic field and Rashba spin-orbit coupling which is connected to nonmagnetic leads. Without spin-orbit coupling we find a complete spin-filtering effect, meaning that the electric transport occurs in one spin channel only. For a large magnetic field which closes the band gap, we show that spin-orbit coupling leads to a transition from metallic to insulating behavior. The oscillations of the different spin-components of the current with the length of the transport channel are studied as well.
Spin filter tunnel junctions are based on selective tunneling of up and down spin electrons controlled through exchange splitting of the band structure of a ferromagnetic insulator. Therefore, spin filter efficiency can be tuned by adjusting exchange strength of the tunnel barrier. We have observed that magnetic field and bias voltage (current) can be used to regulate exchange strength and consequently spin-filter efficiency in tunnel junctions with ferromagnetic DyN and GdN tunnel barrier. In tunnel junctions with DyN barrier we obtained $\sim$37$\%$ spin polarization of tunneling electrons a…
Electron energy filtering has been suggested as a promising way to improve the power factor and enhance the ZT figure of merit of thermoelectric materials. In this work we explore the effect that reduced dimensionality has on the success of the energy-filtering mechanism for power factor enhancement. We use the quantum mechanical non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method for electron transport including electron-phonon scattering to explore 1D and 2D superlattice/nanocomposite systems. We find that, given identical material parameters, 1D channels utilize energy filtering more effectively…
To construct reliable material platforms and to uncover new rules to realize spin-Seebeck effect (SSE) and thermal spin-filtering effect (SFE) are core topics in spin caloritronics. Here we design several single-layer boron-nitrogen nanotubes (BNNTs) with n boron (nitrogen) atoms substituted by carbons in every unit cell. We find that for n = 1, the magnetic BNNTs generate a good SSE with nearly symmetric spin-up and spin-down currents; while as the carbon dopant concentration increases (c.f. n $\geq$ 2), a high rotational symmetry of the carbons contributes to generate the SSE with more symme…
We have found that intensity $I$ and circular polarization degree $ρ$ of the edge photoluminescence, excited in GaAsN alloys by circularly polarized light at room temperature, grow substantially in the longitudinal magnetic field $B$ of the order of 1\,kG. This increase depends on the intensity of pumping and, in the region of weak or moderate intensities, may reach a twofold value. In two-charge-state model, which considers spin-dependent recombination of spin-oriented free electrons on deep paramagnetic centers, we included the magnetic-field suppression of spin relaxation of the electrons b…
For a linear chain of diamond-like elements, we show that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction (which can be tuned by a perpendicular gate voltage) and the Aharonov-Bohm flux (due to a perpendicular magnetic field) can combine to select only one propagating ballistic mode, for which the electronic spins are fully polarized along a direction that can be tuned by the electric and magnetic fields and by the electron energy. All the other modes are evanescent. For a wide range of parameters, this chain can serve as a spin filter.
This work performs a numerical study of electron transport through the fundamental logic gate in valleytronics - a valley valve consisting of two or increasing number of valley filters. Various typical effects on the transport are investigated, such as those due to interface scattering, long- and short- range impurity scattering, edge roughness, strain, inter-filter spacing, or increasing number of valley filters. For illustration, we consider the class of specific valves built from graphene quantum wire valley filters in single layer or bilayer graphene, with the filters subject to separate c…
The magnetoelectric effects in the surface states of the 3D TI are extremely strong due to the full spin-momentum locking. Here the microscopic theory of S/3D TI bilayer structures in terms of quasiclassical Green's functions is developed. On the basis of the developed formalism it is shown that the DOS in the S/TI bilayer manifests giant magnetoelectric behavior and, as a result, S/3D TI heterostructures can work as non-magnetic fully electrically controllable spin filters. It is shown that due to the full spin-momentum locking the amplitudes of the odd-frequency singlet and triplet component…
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) magnetometry is a new technique for imaging spin waves in magnetic materials. It detects spin waves by their microwave magnetic stray fields, which decay evanescently on the scale of the spin-wavelength. Here, we use nanoscale control of a single-NV sensor as a wavelength filter to characterize frequency-degenerate spin waves excited by a microstrip in a thin-film magnetic insulator. With the NV-probe in contact with the magnet, we observe an incoherent mixture of thermal and microwave-driven spin waves. By retracting the tip, we progressively suppress the small-wavelengt…
Spin filtering is an essential operation in spintronics that allows creation and detection of spin polarized carriers. Transition metal ferromagnets are used as spin filters in most cases, though their spin filtering efficiency is only around ~50%, thereby limiting the efficiency of spintronic devices. Recently, chiral systems such as DNA have been shown to exhibit efficient spin filtering, a phenomenon often dubbed as "chirality induced spin selectivity" (CISS). In this work, we consider single wall carbon nanotubes helically wrapped with single stranded poly-T DNA. By magnetoresistance measu…
Silicon carbide nanoparticles with diameters around 8 nm and with narrow size distribution have been finely mixed with doped silicon nanopowders and sintered into bulk samples to investigate the influence of nanoinclusions on electrical and thermal transport properties. We have compared the thermoelectric properties of samples ranging from 0-5% volume fraction of silicon carbide. The silicon carbide nanoinclusions lead to a significant improvement in the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, largely due to an enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient. A semiclassical Boltzmann transport equation is…
We investigate theoretically the spin-polarized electron transport for a wide-narrow-wide (WNW) quantum wire under the modulation of Rashba spin-orbit interaction (SOI). The influence of both the structure of the quantum wire and the interference between different pairs of subbands on the spin-polarized electron transport is taken into account simultaneously via the spin-resolved lattice Green function method. It is found that a very large vertical spin-polarized current can be generated by the SOI-induced effective magnetic field at the structure-induced Fano resonance even in the presence of…
The spin torque exerted on a magnetic moment is a reaction to spin filtering when spin-polarized electrons interact with a thin ferromagnetic film. We show that, for certain conditions, a spin transmission resonance (STR) gives rise to a failure of spin filtering. As a consequence, no spin is transfered to the ferromagnet. The condition for STR depends on the incoming energy of electrons and the thickness of the film. For a simple model we find that when the STR condition is satisfied, the ferromagnetic film is transparent to the incoming electrons.
Using density functional theory, we investigate TM-cyclopentadienyl-benzene sandwich molecular wires (SMWs) which are composites of TM-cyclopentadienyl and TM-benzene wires (TM = transition metal (V, Fe)). All the SMWs are found to be highly stable ferromagnetic half-metals, showing spin switching behavior. Transport calculations show that finite size clusters display spin filter property when coupled with Au electrodes on either side. I-V characteristics of all systems confirm the spin filter property, with Au-BzVCpVBz-Au displaying exceptionally high performance. In addition to spin filterin…
Semiconductors with strong spin-orbit interactions can exhibit a helical gap with spin-momentum locking opened by a magnetic field. Such a gap is highly spin selective as a result of a topologically protected spin-momentum locking, which can be used for spin filtering. We experimentally demonstrate such a spin filtering effect in a quasi-ballistic p-type germanium/silicon core/shell nanowire (NW), which possesses a pseudo-helical gap without the application of magnetic field. Polarized hole spin injection to the NW is achieved using cobalt ferromagnetic contacts with controlled natural surface…
The possibility to effect valley splitting of an electronic current in graphene represents the essential component in the new field of valleytronics in such two-dimensional materials. Based on a symmetry analysis of the scattering matrix, we show that if the spatial distribution of multiple potential scatterers breaks mirror symmetry about the axis of incoming electrons, then a splitting of the current between two valleys is observed. This leads to the appearance of the valley Hall effect. We illustrate the effect of mirror symmetry breaking in a minimal system of two symmetric impurities, dem…
We propose a spin filter scheme using a $T$-stub waveguide. By applying a moderate magnetic field at the tip of the sidearm, this device can produce both large electric and spin current. The direction, polarization of the output spin current can be further adjusted electronically by a remote gate which tunes the length of the sidearm. The device is robust against the disorder.
The coherent transport through a set of N quantum dots coupled in parallel is considered in the limit of infinite intradot and finite or infinite interdot interactions. The mean field slave boson approach and the equation of motion method are used. For the full spin-orbit degenerate case the low energy behavior is characterized by an SU(2N) symmetry with entangled spin and charge correlations. The magnetic field breaks the spin degeneracy, but for the special choices of gate voltages the degeneracy might be recovered in one spin channel allowing the spin filtering.
Electronic spin precession and filtering are measured in the molecular field of magnetic thin films. The conducted lab-on-chip experiments allow injection of electrons with energies between 0.8 and 1.1 eV, an energy range never explored up to now in spin precession experiments. While filtering angles agree with previous reported values measured at much higher electron energies, spin precession angles of 2.5° in CoFe and 0.7° in Co per nanometer film thickness could be measured which are 30 times smaller than those previously measured at 7 eV. Band structure effects and layer roughness are resp…
We study spin-dependent electronic transport across ferromagnet/superconductor ballistic junctions modeled using tight-binding Hamiltonians with s, p and d orbitals and material-specific parameters. We show that by accurately modeling the band structure of the bulk materials, one can reproduce the measured differential conductance of Cu/Pb nanocontacts. In contrast the differential conductance of Co/Pb contacts can only be reproduced if an enhanced magnetic moment is present at the interface.
The high efficiency of a tunnel magnetic transistor as a source of spin-polarized electrons has been proven recently [X. Jiang {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 90}, 256603 (2003)]. A concept of this device based on an active group of hot electrons controlling the collector current and experiencing predominantly inelastic scattering in the base is developed. It takes into account the interconnection between the injection and filtering of spin-polarized electrons in different elements of the device. Explicit expressions for the parameters of the device in terms of the basic parameters of the …
We investigate the effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling and of a tunnel barrier on the zero conduc- tance resonances appearing in a one-dimensional conducting Aharonov-Bohm (AB) ring symmet- rically coupled to two leads. The transmission function of the corresponding one-electron problem is derived within the scattering matrix approach and analyzed in the complex energy plane with focus on the role of the tunnel barrier strength on the zero-pole structure characteristic of trans- mission (anti)resonances. The lifting of the real conductance zeros is related to the breaking of the spin-reversal…
Valley-polarized currents can be generated by local straining of multi-terminal graphene devices. The pseudo-magnetic field created by the deformation allows electrons from only one valley to transmit and a current of electrons from a single valley is generated at the opposite side of the locally strained region. We show that valley filtering is most effective with bumps of a certain height and width. Despite the fact that the highest contribution to the polarized current comes from electrons from the lowest sub-band, contributions of other sub-bands are not negligible and can significantly en…
We propose a simple scheme for the spin filter by studying the coherent transport of electrons through a double-bend structure in a quantum wire with a weak lateral magnetic potential which is much weaker than the Fermi energy of the leads. {\em Extremely large} spin polarized current in the order of {\em micro-Ampere} can be obtained because of the strong resonant behavior from the double bends. Further study suggests the roubustness of this spin filter.
We consider theoretically transport in a spinfull one-channel interacting quantum wire placed in an external magnetic field. For the case of two point-like impurities embedded in the wire, under a small voltage bias the spin-polarized current occurs at special points in the parameter space, tunable by a single parameter. At sufficiently low temperatures complete spin-polarization may be achieved, provided repulsive interaction between electrons is not too strong.
Spin filtering through quantum spin interference is addressed exactly, in two dimensions, in a medium that has both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings and an applied external magnetic field. The problem is addressed from the fully non-Abelian Gauge formulation. We propose an experimentally feasible electronic Mach Zehnder Interferometer and solve for the perfect spin filtering conditions. We find two broad solutions, one where filtering is achieved in the original incoming basis, that is purely a non-Abelian solution, and the other where one needs a tilted axis to observe the polarize…
