Spin-galvanic effect

There is much recent interest in exploiting the spin of conduction electrons in semiconductor heterostructures together with their charge to realize new device concepts. Electrical currents are usually generated by electric or magnetic fields, or by gradients of, for example, carrier concentration or temperature. The electron spin in a spin-polarized electron gas can, in principle, also drive an electrical current, even at room temperature, if some general symmetry requirements are met. Here we demonstrate such a 'spin-galvanic' effect in semiconductor heterostructures, induced by a non-equilibrium, but uniform population of electron spins. The microscopic origin for this effect is that the two electronic sub-bands for spin-up and spin-down electrons are shifted in momentum space and, although the electron distribution in each sub-band is symmetric, there is an inherent asymmetry in the spin-flip scattering events between the two sub-bands. The resulting current flow has been detected by applying a magnetic field to rotate an optically oriented non-equilibrium spin polarization in the direction of the sample plane. In contrast to previous experiments, where spin-polarized currents were driven by electric fields in semiconductor, we have here the complementary situation where electron spins drive a current without the need of an external electric field.     

Direct electronic measurement of the spin Hall effect

The generation, manipulation and detection of spin-polarized electrons in nanostructures define the main challenges of spin-based electronics. Among the different approaches for spin generation and manipulation, spin-orbit coupling--which couples the spin of an electron to its momentum--is attracting considerable interest. In a spin-orbit-coupled system, a non-zero spin current is predicted in a direction perpendicular to the applied electric field, giving rise to a spin Hall effect. Consistent with this effect, electrically induced spin polarization was recently detected by optical techniques at the edges of a semiconductor channel and in two-dimensional electron gases in semiconductor heterostructures. Here we report electrical measurements of the spin Hall effect in a diffusive metallic conductor, using a ferromagnetic electrode in combination with a tunnel barrier to inject a spin-polarized current. In our devices, we observe an induced voltage that results exclusively from the conversion of the injected spin current into charge imbalance through the spin Hall effect. Such a voltage is proportional to the component of the injected spins that is perpendicular to the plane defined by the spin current direction and the voltage probes. These experiments reveal opportunities for efficient spin detection without the need for magnetic materials, which could lead to useful spintronics devices that integrate information processing and data storage.     

半导体中纯自旋流的探测

自旋电子学是利用电子的自旋而非电子的电荷作为信息载体而发展的物理和电子器件研究的分支领域.半导体中自旋流的测量在自旋电子学中起关键作用.本文从自旋流的基本性质出发,简要回顾了目前国际上探测自旋流的实验手段,以及作者最近提出的有关自旋流的光学效应和以此直接测量半导体中纯自旋流的理论.     

Gate-voltage control of spin interactions between electrons and nuclei in a semiconductor.

Semiconductors are ubiquitous in device electronics, because their charge distributions can be conveniently manipulated with voltages to perform logic operations. Achieving a similar level of control over the spin degrees of freedom, either from electrons or nuclei, could provide intriguing prospects for both information processing and the study of fundamental solid-state physics issues. Here we report procedures that carry out the controlled transfer of spin angular momentum between electrons-confined to two dimensions and subjected to a perpendicular magnetic field-and the nuclei of the host semiconductor, using gate voltages only. We show that the spin transfer rate can be enhanced near a ferromagnetic ground state of the electron system, and that the induced nuclear spin polarization can be subsequently stored and 'read out'. These techniques can also be combined into a spectroscopic tool to detect the low-energy collective excitations in the electron system that promote the spin transfer. The existence of such excitations is contingent on appropriate electron-electron correlations, and these can be tuned by changing, for example, the electron density via a gate voltage.     

受多体效应影响的平行双量子点结构中的自旋输运

采用非平衡态格林函数方法,研究了一个三电极的平行双量子点结构中由局域Rashba型自旋轨道耦合诱导的自旋极化的电子输运.结果发现,当电子从"源"电极经量子点区到两个"漏"电极时,它能根据自身的自旋态选择终端,即自旋极化和自旋分离可在这一结构同时实现.同时发现,量子点内的库仑相互作用对该体系的自旋输运性质有重要影响,其中有额外电极与之耦合的量子点中的库仑相互作用的强度对自旋输运起主要调节作用.     

贵金属/半导体异质结中的光致自旋电流效应研究

自旋电子材料因能同时对电子的自旋和电荷两个自由度实施操控,在构筑以低功耗、超高速、大容量和超宽带为特征的新一代信息处理技术中展现出巨大的应用潜力.然而,通过掺杂过渡金属元素和稀土离子而形成的传统稀磁半导体和钙钛矿锰氧化物往往因结构缺陷导致的居里温度不高、自旋磁矩和自旋极化率偏低等不足,阻碍了自旋电子材料的商业化应用.近年来,在高纯半导体上沉积贵金属薄膜所形成的贵金属/半导体异质结中,通过使用偏振光激发该类异质结可产生纯自旋电流.这种基于逆自旋霍尔效应(ISHE)、可在室温下运行的、非接触和非破坏型的自旋极化激励方法理论上可获得高于50%自旋极化率,引起了人们的广泛关注.文章主要介绍光致自旋电流形成机制和测试方法,以及入射光圆偏振度、光强、入射角度等参数对光致自旋注入效率的调控机理,介绍杂质介导和声子介导对光致自旋输运的贡献,最后提出增强光致自旋电子极化率的可行方案,可为揭示自旋载流子产生、注入和输运相关的自旋动力学核心科学问题以及研制高性能自旋电子器件提供有益的参考.     

Evidence for spin-charge separation in quasi-one-dimensional organic conductors

Interacting conduction electrons are usually described within Fermi-liquid theory, which states that, in spite of strong interactions, the low-energy excitations are electron-like quasiparticles with charge and spin. In recent years there has been tremendous interest in conducting systems that are not Fermi liquids, motivated by the observation of highly anomalous metallic states in various materials, most notably the copper oxide superconductors. Non-Fermi-liquid behaviour is generic to one-dimensional interacting electron systems, which are predicted to be Luttinger liquids. One of their key properties is spin-charge separation: instead of quasiparticles, collective excitations of charge (with no spin) and spin (with no charge) are formed, which move independently and at different velocities. However, experimental confirmation of spin-charge separation remains a challenge. Here we report experiments probing the charge and heat current in quasi-one-dimensional conductors--the organic Bechgaard salts. It was found that the charge and spin excitations have distinctly different thermal conductivities, which gives strong evidence for spin-charge separation. The spin excitations have a much larger thermal conductivity than the charge excitations, which indicates that the coupling of the charge excitations to the lattice is important.     

Ferroelectricity from iron valence ordering in the charge-frustrated system LuFe2O4

Ferroelectric materials are widely used in modern electric devices such as memory elements, filtering devices and high-performance insulators. Ferroelectric crystals have a spontaneous electric polarization arising from the coherent arrangement of electric dipoles (specifically, a polar displacement of anions and cations). First-principles calculations and electron density analysis of ferroelectric materials have revealed that the covalent bond between the anions and cations, or the orbital hybridization of electrons on both ions, plays a key role in establishing the dipolar arrangement. However, an alternative model-electronic ferroelectricity-has been proposed in which the electric dipole depends on electron correlations, rather than the covalency. This would offer the attractive possibility of ferroelectric materials that could be controlled by the charge, spin and orbital degrees of freedom of the electron. Here we report experimental evidence for ferroelectricity arising from electron correlations in the triangular mixed valence oxide, LuFe(2)O(4). Using resonant X-ray scattering measurements, we determine the ordering of the Fe(2+) and Fe(3+) ions. They form a superstructure that supports an electric polarization consisting of distributed electrons of polar symmetry. The polar ordering arises from the repulsive property of electrons-electron correlations-acting on a frustrated geometry.     

GaAs中电子自旋极化的浓度依赖研究

采用时间分辨圆偏振光抽运-探测光谱,研究本征GaAs中导带底附近电子初始自旋极化和自旋弛豫动力学.发现电子初始自旋极化度小于通常认为的0.5,并随光注入载流子浓度的增大而减小.假设右旋圆偏振光激发到导带的自旋取向,向上与向下电子浓度之比为13,理论计算的电子初始自旋极化度随载流子浓度变化关系与实验结果很好的符合.计算结果同时表明,带隙重整化效应对电子初始自旋极化度有较大影响,但电子初始自旋极化度小于0.5的现象并非起源于带隙重整化效应.     

Electrons surfing on a sound wave as a platform for quantum optics with flying electrons

Electrons in a metal are indistinguishable particles that interact strongly with other electrons and their environment. Isolating and detecting a single flying electron after propagation, in a similar manner to quantum optics experiments with single photons, is therefore a challenging task. So far only a few experiments have been performed in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas in which the electron propagates almost ballistically. In these previous works, flying electrons were detected by means of the current generated by an ensemble of electrons, and electron correlations were encrypted in the current noise. Here we demonstrate the experimental realization of high-efficiency single-electron source and detector for a single electron propagating isolated from the other electrons through a one-dimensional channel. The moving potential is excited by a surface acoustic wave, which carries the single electron along the one-dimensional channel at a speed of 3 μm ns(-1). When this quantum channel is placed between two quantum dots several micrometres apart, a single electron can be transported from one quantum dot to the other with quantum efficiencies of emission and detection of 96% and 92%, respectively. Furthermore, the transfer of the electron can be triggered on a timescale shorter than the coherence time T(2)* of GaAs spin qubits. Our work opens new avenues with which to study the teleportation of a single electron spin and the distant interaction between spatially separated qubits in a condensed-matter system.     

Spin-orbital separation in the quasi-one-dimensional Mott insulator Sr2CuO3

When viewed as an elementary particle, the electron has spin and charge. When binding to the atomic nucleus, it also acquires an angular momentum quantum number corresponding to the quantized atomic orbital it occupies. Even if electrons in solids form bands and delocalize from the nuclei, in Mott insulators they retain their three fundamental quantum numbers: spin, charge and orbital. The hallmark of one-dimensional physics is a breaking up of the elementary electron into its separate degrees of freedom. The separation of the electron into independent quasi-particles that carry either spin (spinons) or charge (holons) was first observed fifteen years ago. Here we report observation of the separation of the orbital degree of freedom (orbiton) using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering on the one-dimensional Mott insulator Sr2CuO3. We resolve an orbiton separating itself from spinons and propagating through the lattice as a distinct quasi-particle with a substantial dispersion in energy over momentum, of about 0.2 electronvolts, over nearly one Brillouin zone.     

Thermal spin current from a ferromagnet to silicon by Seebeck spin tunnelling

Heat generation by electric current, which is ubiquitous in electronic devices and circuits, raises energy consumption and will become increasingly problematic in future generations of high-density electronics. The control and re-use of heat are therefore important topics for existing and emerging technologies, including spintronics. Recently it was reported that heat flow within a ferromagnet can produce a flow of spin angular momentum-a spin current-and an associated voltage. This spin Seebeck effect has been observed in metallic, insulating and semiconductor ferromagnets with temperature gradients across them. Here we describe and report the demonstration of Seebeck spin tunnelling-a distinctly different thermal spin flow, of purely interfacial nature-generated in a tunnel contact between electrodes of different temperatures when at least one of the electrodes is a ferromagnet. The Seebeck spin current is governed by the energy derivative of the tunnel spin polarization. By exploiting this in ferromagnet-oxide-silicon tunnel junctions, we observe thermal transfer of spins from the ferromagnet to the silicon without a net tunnel charge current. The induced spin accumulation scales linearly with heating power and changes sign when the temperature differential is reversed. This thermal spin current can be used by itself, or in combination with electrical spin injection, to increase device efficiency. The results highlight the engineering of heat transport in spintronic devices and facilitate the functional use of heat.     

Spin-imbalance in a one-dimensional Fermi gas

Superconductivity and magnetism generally do not coexist. Changing the relative number of up and down spin electrons disrupts the basic mechanism of superconductivity, where atoms of opposite momentum and spin form Cooper pairs. Nearly forty years ago Fulde and Ferrell and Larkin and Ovchinnikov (FFLO) proposed an exotic pairing mechanism in which magnetism is accommodated by the formation of pairs with finite momentum. Despite intense theoretical and experimental efforts, however, polarized superconductivity remains largely elusive. Unlike the three-dimensional (3D) case, theories predict that in one dimension (1D) a state with FFLO correlations occupies a major part of the phase diagram. Here we report experimental measurements of density profiles of a two-spin mixture of ultracold (6)Li atoms trapped in an array of 1D tubes (a system analogous to electrons in 1D wires). At finite spin imbalance, the system phase separates with an inverted phase profile, as compared to the 3D case. In 1D, we find a partially polarized core surrounded by wings which, depending on the degree of polarization, are composed of either a completely paired or a fully polarized Fermi gas. Our work paves the way to direct observation and characterization of FFLO pairing.     

连接构型对铬卟啉分子自旋过滤效应的调控

采用第一性原理方法对不同连接构型的铬卟啉分子电子自旋输运性质进行计算分析.结果表明，对角连接构型的铬卟啉分子在0～0.2 V偏压区间范围内的自旋极化率高达95%以上，水平连接构型的导电性能比对角连接高约1个数量级.说明改变铬卟啉分子连接构型，可以改变电子自旋前线分子轨道分布和输运路径，从而实现其自旋过滤效应，对基于不同连接构型的铬卟啉分子器件的电子自旋输运性质进行有效调控.     

Supercurrent reversal in quantum dots

When two superconductors are electrically connected by a weak link--such as a tunnel barrier--a zero-resistance supercurrent can flow. This supercurrent is carried by Cooper pairs of electrons with a combined charge of twice the elementary charge, e. The 2e charge quantum is clearly visible in the height of voltage steps in Josephson junctions under microwave irradiation, and in the magnetic flux periodicity of h/2e (where h is Planck's constant) in superconducting quantum interference devices. Here we study supercurrents through a quantum dot created in a semiconductor nanowire by local electrostatic gating. Owing to strong Coulomb interaction, electrons only tunnel one-by-one through the discrete energy levels of the quantum dot. This nevertheless can yield a supercurrent when subsequent tunnel events are coherent. These quantum coherent tunnelling processes can result in either a positive or a negative supercurrent, that is, in a normal or a pi-junction, respectively. We demonstrate that the supercurrent reverses sign by adding a single electron spin to the quantum dot. When excited states of the quantum dot are involved in transport, the supercurrent sign also depends on the character of the orbital wavefunctions.     

Chiral magnetic order at surfaces driven by inversion asymmetry

Chirality is a fascinating phenomenon that can manifest itself in subtle ways, for example in biochemistry (in the observed single-handedness of biomolecules) and in particle physics (in the charge-parity violation of electroweak interactions). In condensed matter, magnetic materials can also display single-handed, or homochiral, spin structures. This may be caused by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction, which arises from spin-orbit scattering of electrons in an inversion-asymmetric crystal field. This effect is typically irrelevant in bulk metals as their crystals are inversion symmetric. However, low-dimensional systems lack structural inversion symmetry, so that homochiral spin structures may occur. Here we report the observation of magnetic order of a specific chirality in a single atomic layer of manganese on a tungsten (110) substrate. Spin-polarized scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals that adjacent spins are not perfectly antiferromagnetic but slightly canted, resulting in a spin spiral structure with a period of about 12 nm. We show by quantitative theory that this chiral order is caused by the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and leads to a left-rotating spin cycloid. Our findings confirm the significance of this interaction for magnets in reduced dimensions. Chirality in nanoscale magnets may play a crucial role in spintronic devices, where the spin rather than the charge of an electron is used for data transmission and manipulation. For instance, a spin-polarized current flowing through chiral magnetic structures will exert a spin-torque on the magnetic structure, causing a variety of excitations or manipulations of the magnetization and giving rise to microwave emission, magnetization switching, or magnetic motors.     

Electronic measurement and control of spin transport in silicon

The spin lifetime and diffusion length of electrons are transport parameters that define the scale of coherence in spintronic devices and circuits. As these parameters are many orders of magnitude larger in semiconductors than in metals, semiconductors could be the most suitable for spintronics. So far, spin transport has only been measured in direct-bandgap semiconductors or in combination with magnetic semiconductors, excluding a wide range of non-magnetic semiconductors with indirect bandgaps. Most notable in this group is silicon, Si, which (in addition to its market entrenchment in electronics) has long been predicted a superior semiconductor for spintronics with enhanced lifetime and transport length due to low spin-orbit scattering and lattice inversion symmetry. Despite this promise, a demonstration of coherent spin transport in Si has remained elusive, because most experiments focused on magnetoresistive devices; these methods fail because of a fundamental impedance mismatch between ferromagnetic metal and semiconductor, and measurements are obscured by other magnetoelectronic effects. Here we demonstrate conduction-band spin transport across 10 mum undoped Si in a device that operates by spin-dependent ballistic hot-electron filtering through ferromagnetic thin films for both spin injection and spin detection. As it is not based on magnetoresistance, the hot-electron spin injection and spin detection avoids impedance mismatch issues and prevents interference from parasitic effects. The clean collector current shows independent magnetic and electrical control of spin precession, and thus confirms spin coherent drift in the conduction band of silicon.     

Spin Effects in Collisions of Electrons with Atoms and Molecules

IntroductionThedynamicsofelectron-atomandelectron-moleculecollisionshasbeenthefocusofmuchinterestinthepastbecauseofitsrelevanceingasdischargesandplasmas,includinggaslasers,orastrophysicalproblemsofpracticalinterest.Avarietyofinvestigationshavebeenperformedtostudysuchprocessesinsomedetail.Moresophisticatedexperimentalmethodsincludepolarization-correlationmeasurementstoobtaingeneralizedSTUparameters,spinasymmetrieswithpolarizedtargets(alsosuperelasticscatteringfromlaserexcitedtarget),opticalpar…     

三终端量子点环中的自旋极化输运

利用非平衡态格林函数方法,研究了一个存在局域Rashba自旋轨道耦合作用的三电极量子点环结构中的电子输运性质.结果发现,Rashba自旋轨道耦合作用引起的自旋相关的量子干涉效应能够在电极中产生自旋流.这种自旋流的大小、方向以及自旋极化度等性质可以通过纯电学手段改变系统参数来加以调控.在适当选择这些参数时,电极中甚至可以产生完全自旋极化流或纯自旋流.这些效应说明我们所研究的系统可用来设计纯电学的自旋流产生装置.     

T型有机器件自旋注入效率的提高

考虑到有机半导体中特殊的载流子电荷自旋关系,建立了一个自旋注入有机半导体的简单的T型器件模型,运用自旋扩散理论计算得出了此模型的电流白旋极化率并与铁磁／有机半导体异质结构的注入效率进行了比较．理论计算发现T型模型中通过调节分支电流的大小会使自旋极化率较铁磁／有机半导体模型有明显的提高,并讨论了极化子比率、外加电场、自旋相关界面电阻以及有机半导体电导率等因素对电流自旋极化性质的影响．