Tuesday, March 13, 2012

1203.2439 (C. Ciccarelli et al.)

Spin gating electrical current    [PDF]

C. Ciccarelli, L. P. Zarbo, A. C. Irvine, R. P. Campion, B. L. Gallagher, J. Wunderlich, T. Jungwirth, A. J. Ferguson
The majority of spintronic devices can be associated with one of two basic physical paradigms. The first stems from Mott's two-spin-channel picture of transport in ferromagnets with exchange-split bands and the second is due to Dirac's quantum-relativistic spin-orbit coupling. "Mott" devices, utilized in today's commercial spintronic sensors and memories, require at least two separate magnetic components and a spin current driven from one to the other component. "Dirac" devices, on the other hand, can rely on a single spin-orbit coupled component and spin current is not required to connect the spin-active component with another one. In our work we bring the distinction between "Mott" and "Dirac" paradigms to the fundamental level by demonstrating that "Dirac" spintronics can operate without any spin current. In other words, we show that in a spin sensitive transport device it is possible to remove the spinorbit coupled component from the transport channel. We observe and microscopically explain an effect in which chemical potential shifts induced by rotated spins in a magnet control ordinary charge current in a capacitively coupled transport channel. The phenomenon provides a new concept for constructing spin transistors.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.2439

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