Electrically controllable spin filtering in zigzag phosphorene nanoribbon based normal–antiferromagnet–normal junctions

We investigated the electric controllable spin-filtering effect in a zigzag phosphorene nanoribbon(ZPNR) based normal–antiferromagnet–normal junction. Two ferromagnets are closely coupled to the edges of the nanoribbon and form the edge-to-edge antiferromagnetism. Under an in-plane electric field, the two degenerate edge bands of the edge-to-edge antiferromagnet split into four spin-polarized sub-bands and a 100% spin-polarized current can be easily induced with the maximal conductance 2e~2/h. The spin polarization changes with the strength of the electric field and the exchange field,and changes sign at opposite electric fields. The spin-polarized current switches from one edge to the other by reversing the direction of the electric field. The edge current can also be controlled spatially by changing the electric potential of the scattering region. The manipulation of edge current is useful in spin-transfer-torque magnetic random-access memory and provides a practical way to develop controllable spintronic devices.

Negative tunnelling magnetoresistance in spin filtering magnetic junctions with spin-orbit coupling

We present theoretical calculations of spin transport in spin filtering magnetic tunnelling junctions based on the Landauer Biittiker formalism and taking into account the spin-orbit coupling （SOC）. It is shown that spin-flip scattering induced by SOC is stronger in parallel alignment of magnetization of the ferromegnet barrier （FB） and the ferromagnetic electrode than that in antiparallel case. The increase of negative tunnelling magnetoresistance with bias is in agreement with recent experimental observation.

Perfect spin filtering controlled by an electric field in a bilayer graphene junction:Effect of layer-dependent exchange energy

Magneto transport of carriers with a spin-dependent gap in a ferromagnetic-gated bilayer of graphene is investigated.We focus on the effect of an energy gap induced by the mismatch of the exchange fields in the top and bottom layers of an AB-stacked graphene bilayer. The interplay of the electric and exchange fields causes the electron to acquire a spindependent energy gap. We find that, only in the case of the anti-parallel configuration, the effect of a magnetic-induced gap will give rise to perfect spin filtering controlled by the electric field. The resolution of the spin filter may be enhanced by varying the bias voltage. Perfect switching of the spin polarization from ＋100% to -100% by reversing the direction of electric field is predicted. Giant magnetoresistance is predicted to be easily realized when the applied electric field is smaller than the magnetic energy gap. It should be pointed out that the perfect spin filter is due to the layer-dependent exchange energy. This work points to the potential application of bilayer graphene in spintronics.

Spin and valley filter in strain engineered silicene

The realization of a perfect spin or valley filtering effect in two-dimensional graphene-like materials is one of the fundamental objectives in spintronics and valleytronics. For this purpose, we study spin- and valley-dependent transport in a silicene system with spatially alternative strains. It is found that due to the valley-opposite gauge field induced by the strain, the strained silicene with a superlattice structure exhibits an angle-resolved valley and spin filtering effect when the spin–orbit interaction is considered. When the interaction that breaks the time reversal symmetry is introduced, such as the spin or valley dependent staggered magnetization, the system is shown to be a perfect spin and valley half metal in which only one spin and valley species is allowed to transport. Our findings are helpful to design both spintronic and valleytronic devices based on silicene.

Spin transport properties for B-doped zigzag silicene nanoribbons with different edge hydrogenations

Exploring silicon-based spin modulating junction is one of the most promising areas of spintronics.Using nonequilibrium Green's function combined with density functional theory,a set of spin filters of hydrogenated zigzag silicene nanoribbons is designed by substituting a silicon atom with a boron one and the spin-correlated transport properties are studied.The results show that the spin polarization can be realized by structural symmetry breaking induced by boron doping.Remarkably,by tuning the edge hydrogenation,it is found that the spin filter efficiency can be varied from 30%to 58%.Moreover,it is also found and explained that the asymmetric hydrogenation can give rise to an obvious negative differential resistance which usually appears at weakly coupled junction.These findings indicate that the boron-doped ZSiNR is a promising material for spintronic applications.

Spin transport in a Zigzag normal/ferromagnetic graphene junction

We study magnetic proximity effect induced low-energy spin transport in the normal/ferromagnetic junction of a semi-infinite zigzag graphene nanoribbon. Due to the absence of a spin flip in a single interface, the spin transfer in this model can be described by the ＂two-spin channel＂ model. We identify each spin channel as either a perfect conducting or a non-conducting channel. This feature leads to spin filter in symmetric zigzag graphene nanoribbon and spin precession in antisymmetric zigzag graphene nanoribbon, and helps to directly determine the exchange-splitting intensity directly, even without an external auxiliary bias.

Spin-polarized current in double quantum dots

We analyze the transport through asymmetric double quantum dots with an inhomogeneous Zeeman splitting in the presence of crossed dc and ac magnetic fields. A strong spin-polarized current can be obtained by changing the dc magnetic field. It is mainly due to the resonant tunnelling. But for the ferromagnetic right electrode, the electron spin resonance also plays an important role in transport. We show that the double quantum dots with three-level mixing under crossed dc and ac magnetic fields can act not only as a bipolar spin filter but also as a spin inverter under suitable conditions.

Investigation of the magnetoresistance in EuS/Nb:SrTiO3 junction

EuS is one of typical ferromagnetic semiconductor using as spin filter in spintronic devices,and the doped one could be a good spin injector.Herein,we fabricate a spin-functional tunnel junction by epitaxially growing the ferromagnetic EuS film on Nb-doped SrTiO3.The improvement of Curie temperature up to 35 K is associated with indirect exchange through additional charge carriers at the interface of EuS/Nb:STO junction.Its magnetic field controlled current-voltage curves indicate the large magnetoresistance(MR)effect in EuS barriers as a highly spin-polarized injector.The negative MR is up to 60%in 10-nm EuS/Nb:STO at 4 T and 30 K.The MR is enhanced with increasing thickness of EuS barrier.The large negative MR effect over a wide temperature range makes this junction into a potential candidate for spintronic devices.

In-situ optical pumping for polarizing 3He neutron spin filters at the China Spallation Neutron Source

In this paper,we present the performance of a recently developed in-situ spin-exchange optically pumped^(3)He-neutron spin filter system at the China Spallation Neutron Source(CSNS).The system achieved a^(3)He polarization of over 74%at the beamline BL-20.Analysis of neutron transmission experiment results reveals a neutron polarization of>90%and an average transmission of 27%for 2.2Åneutrons,which were maintained for a duration of 120 h of beam time.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first in-situ hyperpolarized^(3)He system incorporated on a neutron beamline in China.This technology is expected to provide stable,wide-angle,and highly polarized neutrons at the CSNS for materials research and fundamental neutron physics.

Magnetism in Carbon Nanoscrolls: Quasi-Half-Metals and Half-Metals in Pristine Hydrocarbons

A magnetic ground state is revealed for the first time in zigzag-edged carbon nanoscrolls(ZCNSs)from spin-unrestricted density functional theory calculations.Unlike their flat counterpart-zigzag-edged carbon nanoribbons,which are semiconductors with spin-degenerate electronic structure-ZCNSs show a variety of magnetic configurations,namely spin-selective semiconductors,metals,semimetals,quasi-half-metals,and half-metals.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first discovery of quasi-half-metals and half-metals in a pure hydrocarbon without resort to an external electric field.In addition,we calculated the spin-dependent transportation of the semiconducting ZCNSs with 12 and 20 zigzag chains,and found that they are 13% and 17% at the Fermi level,respectively,suggesting that ZCNS can be an effective spin filter.