Passive magnetic shielded spin polarized electron source with optical electron polarimeter

A new GaAs（100） spin polarized electron source with an optical polarimeter, which is employed in the field of polarized electron and gas atom collision, is presented in detail. The apparatus is passive-magnetic-shielded by a box and a cylinder made of nickel-iron-molybdenum soft magnetic alloy without Helmholtz coil arrangement. And a uniformly distributed residual magnetic field of less than 5 × 10^-7T is obtained near the collision area. The spin polarized electron beam is transmitted and focused onto collision point from photocathode by a set of electron optics with more than 25% transmission 95 cm distance through an 1 mm diameter aperture. Construction and operation of the apparatus, such as vacuum and magnetic shielding system, photocathode, laser optics, electron optics and polarimeter are discussed. The polarization of the spin polarized electron beam is determined to be 30.8 ±3.5% measured with a He optical polarimeter.

Fully spin-polarized, valley-polarized and spin-valley-polarized electron beam splitters utilizing zero-line modes in a three-terminal device

Topological zero-line modes(ZLMs) with spin and valley degrees of freedom give rise to spin, valley and spinvalley transport, which support a platform for exploring quantum transport physics and potential applications in spintronic/valleytronic devices. In this work, we investigate the beam-splitting behaviors of the charge current due to the ZLMs in a three-terminal system. We show that with certain combinations of ZLMs, the incident charge current along the interface between different topological phases can be divided into different polarized currents with unit transmittance in two outgoing terminals. As a result, fully spin-polarized, valley-polarized and spin-valley-polarized electron beam splitters are generated. The mechanism of these splitters is attributed to the cooperative effects of the distribution of the ZLMs and the intervalley and intravalley scatterings that are modulated by the wave-vector mismatch and group velocity mismatch. Interestingly, half-quantized transmittance of these scatterings is found in a fully spin-valley-polarized electron beam splitter.Furthermore, the results indicate that these splitters can be applicable to graphene, silicene, germanene and stanene due to their robustness against the spin–orbit coupling. Our findings offer a new way to understand the transport mechanism and investigate the promising applications of ZLMs.

Anisotropic spin transport and photoresponse characteristics detected by tip movement in magnetic single-molecule junction

Orientation-dependent transport properties induced by anisotropic molecules are enticing in single-molecule junctions.Here,using the first-principles method,we theoretically investigate spin transport properties and photoresponse characteristics in trimesic acid magnetic single-molecule junctions with different molecular adsorption orientations and electrode contact sites.The transport calculations indicate that a single-molecule switch and a significant enhancement of spin transport and photoresponse can be achieved when the molecular adsorption orientation changes from planar geometry to upright geometry.The maximum spin polarization of current and photocurrent in upright molecular junctions exceeds 90%.Moreover,as the Ni tip electrode moves,the tunneling magnetoresistance of upright molecular junctions can be increased to 70%.The analysis of the spin-dependent PDOS elucidates that the spinterfaces between organic molecule and ferromagnetic electrodes are modulated by molecular adsorption orientation,where the molecule in upright molecular junctions yields higher spin polarization.Our theoretical work paves the way for designing spintronic devices and optoelectronic devices with anisotropic functionality base on anisotropic molecules.

Quantum Spin Exchange Interactions to Accelerate the Redox Kinetics in Li–S Batteries

Spin-engineering with electrocatalysts have been exploited to suppress the“shuttle effect”in Li–S batteries.Spin selec-tion,spin-dependent electron mobility and spin potentials in activation barriers can be optimized as quantum spin exchange interactions lead-ing to a significant reduction of the electronic repulsions in the orbitals of catalysts.Herein,we anchor the MgPc molecules on fluorinated carbon nanotubes(MgPc@FCNT),which exhibits the single active Mg sites with axial displacement.According to the density functional theory calculations,the electronic spin polarization in MgPc@FCNT not only increases the adsorption energy toward LiPSs intermediates but also facilitates the tunneling process of electron in Li–S batter-ies.As a result,the MgPc@FCNT provides an initial capacity of 6.1 mAh cm^(-2) even when the high sulfur loading is 4.5 mg cm^(-2),and still maintains 5.1 mAh cm^(-2) after 100 cycles.This work provides a new perspective to extend the main group single-atom catalysts enabling high-performance Li–S batteries.

Progress in manipulating spin polarization for solar hydrogen production

Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical water splitting using semiconductor materials are effective approaches for converting solar energy into hydrogen fuel.In the past few years,a series of photocatalysts/photoelectrocatalysts have been developed and optimized to achieve efficient solar hydrogen production.Among various optimization strategies,the regulation of spin polarization can tailor the intrinsic optoelectronic properties for retarding charge recombination and enhancing surface reactions,thus improving the solar-to-hydrogen(STH)efficiency.This review presents recent advances in the regulation of spin polarization to enhance spin polarized-dependent solar hydrogen evolution activity.Specifically,spin polarization manipulation strategies of several typical photocatalysts/photoelectrocatalysts(e.g.,metallic oxides,metallic sulfides,non-metallic semiconductors,ferroelectric materials,and chiral molecules)are described.In the end,the critical challenges and perspectives of spin polarization regulation towards future solar energy conversion are briefly provided.

Spin-polarized transport in a normal/ferromagnetic/normal zigzag graphene nanoribbon junction

We investigate the spin-dependent electron transport in single and double normal/ferromagnetic/normal zigzag graphene nanoribbon （NG/FG/NG） junctions. The ferromagnetism in the FG region originates from the spontaneous magnetization of the zigzag graphene nanoribbon. It is shown that when the zigzag-chain number of the ribbon is even and only a single transverse mode is actived, the single NG/FG/NG junction can act as a spin polarizer and/or a spin analyzer because of the valley selection rule and the spin-exchange field in the FG, while the double NG/FG/NG/FG/NG junction exhibits a quantum switching effect, in which the on and the off states switch rapidly by varying the cross angle between two FG magnetizations. Our findings may shed light on the application of magnetized graphene nanoribbons to spintronics devices.

Polarized spin transport in mesoscopic quantum rings with electron phonon and Rashba spin-orbit coupling

The influence of electron-phonon （EP） scattering on spin polarization of current output from a mesoscopic ring with Rashba spin-orbit （SO） interaction is numerically investigated. There are three leads connecting to the ring at different positionsl unpolarized current is injected to one of them, and the other two are output channels with different bias voltages. The spin polarization of current in the outgoing leads shows oscillations as a function of EP coupling strength owing to the quantum interference of EP states in the ring region. As temperature increases, the oscillations are evidently suppressed, implying decoherence of the EP states. The simulation shows that the magnitude of polarized current is sensitive to the location of the lead. The polarized current depends on the connecting position of the lead in a complicated way due to the spin-sensitive quantum interference effects caused by different phases accumulated by transmitting electrons with opposite spin states along different paths.

Spin-polarized transport through the T-shaped double quantum dots

Using the Keldysh nonequilibrium Green function and equation-of-motion technique, this paper investigates the spin-polarized transport properties of the T-shaped double quantum dots （DQD） coupled to two ferromagnetic leads. There are both Fano effect and Kondo effect in the system, and due to their mutual interaction, the density of states, the current, and the differential conductance of the system depend sensitively on the spin-polarized strength. Thus the obtained results show that this system is provided with excellent spin filtering property, which indicates that this system may be a candidate for spin valve transistors in the spintronics.

Temperature-controllable spin-polarized current and spin polarization in a Rashba three-terminal double-quantum-dot device

We propose a Rashba three-terminal double-quantum-dot device to generate a spin-polarized current and manipulate the electron spin in each quantum dot by utilizing the temperature gradient instead of the electric bias voltage. This device possesses a nonresonant tunneling channel and two resonant tunneling channels. The Keldysh nonequilibrium Green＇s function techniques are employed to determinate the spin-polarized current flowing from the electrodes and the spin accumulation in each quantum dot. We find that their signs and magnitudes are well controllable by the gate voltage or the temperature gradient. This result is attributed to the change in the slope of the transmission probability at the Fermi levels in the low-temperature region. Importantly, an obviously pure spin current can be injected into or extracted from one of the three electrodes by properly choosing the temperature gradient and the gate voltages. Therefore, the device can be used as an ideal thermal generator to produce a pure spin current and manipulate the electron spin in the quantum dot.

MONTE CARLO SIMULATION OF SPIN-POLARIZED SECONDARY ELECTRONS FROM IRON

A Monte Carlo model considering the electron spin direction and spin asymmetry h as been developed. The energy distribution of the secondary electron polarizatio n and the primary energy dependence of the polarization from Fe are studied. The simulation results show that: (1) the intensity of the spin-up secondary electr ons is larger thanvthat of thevspin-down secondary electrons, suggesting the s econdary electrons are spin polarized; (2) the spin polarization of secondary el ectrons with nearly zero kinetic energy is higher than the average valance spin polarization, Pb=27% for Fe. With increasing kinetic energy, the spin polarizat ion of the secondary electrons decreases to the value of Pb, remaining constant at higher kinetic energies; (3) the spin polarization increases with an increase in the primary energy and reaches a saturation value at higher primary energy i n both the Monte Carlo simulation and experimental results.

Linear Analysis of Obliquely Propagating Longitudinal Waves in Partially Spin Polarized Degenerate Magnetized Plasma

Linear analysis of low frequency obliquely propagating electrostatic waves in a partially spin polarized degenerate magnetized plasma is presented. Using Fourier analysis, a general linear dispersion relation is derived for low frequency electrostatic lower hybrid(LH) wave, ion acoustic(IA) wave and ion cyclotron(IC) wave in the presence of electron spin polarization. It is found that the electron spin polarization gives birth to a new spin-dependent wave(spin electron acoustic wave) in the spectrum of these waves. Further, the electron spin polarization also causes drastic shifts in the frequency spectrum of these waves. These effects would have a strong bearing on wave phenomena in degenerate astrophysical plasmas.

Detecting Spin Bias with Circularly Polarized Light

We theoretically study the spin transport through a two-terminal quantum dot device under the influence of a symmetric spin bias and circularly polarized light. It is found that the combination of the circularly polarized light and the applied spin bias can result in a net charge current. The resultant charge current is large enough to be measured when properly choosing the system parameters. The resultant charge current can be used to deduce the spin bias due to the fact that there exists a simple linear relation between them. When the external circuit is open, a charge bias instead of a charge current can be induced, which is also measurable by present technologies. These findings indicate a new approach to detect the spin bias by using circularly polarized light.

Recent advances of defect-induced spin and valley polarized states in graphene

Electrons in graphene have fourfold spin and valley degeneracies owing to the unique bipartite honeycomb lattice and an extremely weak spin-orbit coupling,which can support a series of broken symmetry states.Atomic-scale defects in graphene are expected to lift these degenerate degrees of freedom at the nanoscale,and hence,lead to rich quantum states,highlighting promising directions for spintronics and valleytronics.In this article,we mainly review the recent scanning tunneling microscopy(STM)advances on the spin and/or valley polarized states induced by an individual atomicscale defect in graphene,including a single-carbon vacancy,a nitrogen-atom dopant,and a hydrogen-atom chemisorption.Lastly,we give a perspective in this field.

Switchable hidden spin polarization and negative Poisson's ratio in two-dimensional antiferroelectric wurtzite crystals

Two-dimensional(2D)antiferroelectric materials have raised great research interest over the last decade.Here,we reveal a type of 2D antiferroelectric(AFE)crystal where the AFE polarization direction can be switched by a certain degree in the 2D plane.Such 2D functional materials are realized by stacking the exfoliated wurtzite(wz)monolayers with“self-healable”nature,which host strongly coupled ferroelasticity/antiferroelectricity and benign stability.The AFE candidates,i.e.,Zn X and Cd X(X=S,Se,Te),are all semiconductors with direct bandgap atΓpoint,which harbors switchable antiferroelectricity and ferroelasticity with low transition barriers,hidden spin polarization,as well as giant in-plane negative Poisson's ratio(NPR),enabling the co-tunability of hidden spin characteristics and auxetic magnitudes via AFE switching.The 2D AFE wz crystals provide a platform to probe the interplay of 2D antiferroelectricity,ferroelasticity,NPR,and spin effects,shedding new light on the rich physics and device design in wz semiconductors.

Introducing Spin Polarization into Mixed-Dimensional Van der Waals Heterostructures for High-Efficiency Visible-Light Photocatalysis

The low separation efficiency of the photogenerated carrier and the poor activity of the surface redox reaction are the main barrier to further improvement of photocatalytic materials.To address these issues,introducing spin-polarized electrons in single-component photocatalytic materials emerged as a promising approach.However,the decreased redox ability of photocarriers in these materials becomes a new challenge.Herein,we mitigate this challenge with a carbon nitride sheet(CNs)/graphene nanoribbon(GNR)composite material that has a van der Waals heterostructures(vdWHs)and spin-polarized electron properties.Experimental results and theoretical calculations show that the heterostructure has a strong redox ability,high carrier-separation efficiency,and enhanced surface catalytic reaction.Consequently,the mixed-dimensional CNs/GNR vdWHs exhibit remarkable performance for H_(2)and O_(2)generation as well as CO_(2)production under visible-light irradiation without any cocatalyst.The spin-polarized vdWHs discovered in this study revealed a new type of photocatalytic materials and advanced the development of spintronics and photocatalysis.

Valleytronic topological filters in silicene-like inner-edge systems

Inner edge state with spin and valley degrees of freedom is a promising candidate for designing a dissipationless device due to the topological protection. The central challenge for the application of the inner edge state is to generate and modulate the polarized currents. In this work, we discover a new mechanism to generate fully valley-and spin–valley-polarized current caused by the Bloch wavevector mismatch(BWM). Based on this mechanism, we design some serial-typed inner-edge filters. By using once of the BWM, the coincident states could be divided into transmitted and reflected modes, which can serve as a valley or spin–valley filter. In particular, while with twice of the BWM, the incident current is absolutely reflected to support an off state with a specified valley and spin, which is different from the gap effect.These findings give rise to a new platform for designing valleytronics and spin-valleytronics.

Charge regulation by ferromagnetic metal/LiF spin-polarized interface for high-performance Li metal anodes

The interfacial characteristics of the Li metal anode(LMA)play a crucial role in its overall performance.Despite various materials being applied to modify the interface,a comprehensive understanding of their specific mechanisms remains to be investigated.Herein,we have prepared carbon cloth(CC)frameworks with their surfaces modified using ferromagnetic metal/LiF heterogeneous films(T^(M)-LiF-CC)as the substrate for LMA,which exhibit superior electrochemical performance.Utilizing ferromagnetic Co as a representative example,our study demonstrates that the enhanced performance of Co-LiF-CC,compared to bare CC,is attributed to the spinpolarized interface contributed by the Co/LiF heterostructure.Co and LiF play individual roles in redistributing electrons and Li^(+)to promote homogeneous Li deposition.Co nanoparticles play a crucial role in generating strong surface capacitance by storing electrons in spin-split bands,while LiF,with low surface diffusion barriers,ensures fast transportation of Li^(+).The Co-LiF-CC@Li electrodes deliver long lives of 7400 and 3600 h at 1 and 2 mA·cm^(-2)in symmetric cells,respectively;moreover,they enable full batteries with high and durable capacities,particularly when the N/P ratios are low(3.3 or even 1.7).

All-electric-controlled spin current switching in single-molecule magnet-tunnel junctions

A single-molecule magnet （SMM） coupled to two normal metallic electrodes can both switch spin-up and spin- down electronic currents within two different windows of SMM gate voltage. Such spin current switching in the SMM tunnel junction arises from spin-selected single electron resonant tunneling via the lowest unoccupied molecular orbit of the SMM. Since it is not magnetically controlled but all-electrically controlled, the proposed spin current switching effect may have potential applications in future spintronics.

Anomalous chiral transports and spin polarization in heavy-ion collisions

Relativistic heavy-ion collisions create hot quark–gluon plasma as well as very strong electromagnetic(EM)and fluid vortical fields.The strong EM field and vorticity can induce intriguing macroscopic quantum phenomena such as chiral magnetic,chiral separation,chiral electric separation,and chiral vortical effects as well as the spin polarization of hadrons.These phenomena provide us with experimentally feasible means to study the nontrivial topological sector of quantum chromodynamics,the possible parity violation of strong interaction at high temperature,and the subatomic spintronics of quark–gluon plasma.These studies,both in theory and in experiments,are strongly connected with other subfields of physics such as condensed matter physics,astrophysics,and cold atomic physics,and thus form an emerging interdisciplinary research area.We give an introduction to the aforementioned phenomena induced by the EM field and vorticity and an overview of the current status of experimental research in heavy-ion collisions.We also briefly discuss spin hydrodynamics as well as chiral and spin kinetic theories.

Recent developments in chiral and spin polarization effects in heavy-ion collisions

We give a brief overview of recent theoretical and experimental results on the chiral magnetic effect and spin polarization effect in heavy-ion collisions.We present updated experimental results for the chiral magnetic effect and related phenomena.The time evolution of the magnetic fields in different models is discussed.The newly developed quantum kinetic theory for massive fermions is reviewed.We present theoretical and experimental results for the polarization of K hyperons and the q00 value of vector mesons.