A. Petrou

Efficient electrical spin injection from a magnetic metal/tunnel barrier contact into a semiconductor

We report electrical spin injection from a ferromagnetic metal contact into a semiconductor light emitting diode structure with an injection efficiency of 30% which persists to room temperature. The Schottky barrier formed at the Fe/AlGaAs interface provides a natural tunnel barrier for injection of spin polarized electrons under reverse bias. These carriers radiatively recombine, emitting circularly polarized light, and the quantum selection rules relating the optical and carrier spin polarizations provide a quantitative, model-independent measure of injection efficiency. This demonstrates that spin injecting contacts can be formed using a widely employed contact methodology, providing a ready pathway for the integration of spin transport into semiconductor processing technology.

Analysis of the transport process providing spin injection through an Fe/AlGaAs Schottky barrier

Electron-spin polarizations of 32% are obtained in a GaAs quantum well via electrical injection through a reverse-biased Fe/AlGaAs Schottky contact. An analysis of the transport data using the Rowell criteria demonstrates that single-step tunneling is the dominant transport mechanism. The current–voltage data show a clear zero-bias anomaly and phonon signatures corresponding to the GaAs-like and AlAs-like LO phonon modes of the AlGaAs barrier, providing further evidence for tunneling. These results provide experimental confirmation of several theoretical analyses, indicating that tunneling enables significant spin injection from a metal into a semiconductor.

Comparison of Fe/Schottky and Fe/Al2O3 tunnel barrier contacts for electrical spin injection into GaAs

We compare electrical spin injection from Fe films into identical GaAs-based light-emitting diodes (LEDs) using different tunnel barriers—a reverse-biased Fe/AlGaAs Schottky contact and an Fe/Al2O3 barrier. Both types of structures are formed in situ using a multichamber molecular-beam epitaxy system. A detailed analysis of the transport data confirms that tunneling occurs in each case. We find that the spin polarization achieved in the GaAs using the Al2O3 barrier is 40% (best case; 30% typical), but the electrical efficiency is significantly lower than that of the Fe Schottky contact.

Characterization of vapor-phase-grown ZnSe nanoparticles

ZnSe nanoparticles were synthesized by reacting vapors of (CH3)2Zn:N(C2H5)3 and H2Se, diluted in H2, in an opposed flow reactor operating at room temperature and 120 Torr. The particles were collected as random aggregates on silicon substrates and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids placed downstream of the reaction zone. Particle characterization using TEM and electron diffraction revealed the presence of polycrystalline nanoparticles with diameter of about 40 nm that were apparently formed from coagulation of smaller nanocrystals with characteristic size of about 4 nm. Raman spectra of the nanoparticles revealed an asymmetrically broadened feature associated with the LO phonon of ZnSe, indicating the presence of smaller single-crystalline grains.

Reduction of spin injection efficiency by interface defect spin scattering in ZnMnSe/AlGaAs-GaAs spin-polarized light-emitting diodes.

We report the first experimental demonstration that interface microstructure limits diffusive electrical spin injection efficiency across heteroepitaxial interfaces. A theoretical treatment shows that the suppression of spin injection due to interface defects follows directly from the contribution of the defect potential to the spin-orbit interaction, resulting in enhanced spin-flip scattering. An inverse correlation between spin-polarized electron injection efficiency and interface defect density is demonstrated for ZnMnSe/AlGaAs-GaAs spin-LEDs with spin injection efficiencies of 0 to 85%.

Magnetoluminescence and valley polarized state of a two-dimensional electron gas in WS2 monolayers.

Materials often exhibit fundamentally new phenomena in reduced dimensions that potentially lead to novel applications. This is true for single-layer, two-dimensional semiconductor crystals of transition-metal dichalcogenides, MX2 (M = Mo, W and X = S, Se). They exhibit direct bandgaps with energies in the visible region at the two non-equivalent valleys in the Brillouin zone. This makes them suitable for optoelectronic applications that range from light-emitting diodes to light harvesting and light sensors, and to valleytronics. Here, we report the results of a magnetoluminescence study of WS2 single-layer crystals in which the strong spin-orbit interaction additionally locks the valley and spin degrees of freedom. The recombination of the negatively charged exciton in the presence of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is found to be circularly polarized at zero magnetic field despite being excited with unpolarized light, which indicates that the existence of a valley polarized 2DEG is caused by valley and spin locking and strong electron-electron interactions.

Quantifying electrical spin injection: Component-resolved electroluminescence from spin-polarized light-emitting diodes

The spin-polarized light-emitting diode (spin-LED) is a very effective tool for accurately quantifying electrical spin injection in a model independent manner. We resolve and identify various components which occur in the electroluminescence (EL) spectra of GaAs quantum-well-based spin-LEDs, and examine the circular polarization of each. While a number of components exhibit significant circular polarization, the values do not necessarily reflect the electrical spin injection efficiency. We show that a reliable measure of spin injection efficiency can be obtained only if one takes care to spectroscopically resolve and accurately identify the free exciton or free carrier components of the EL spectrum, and exclude other components.

Electrical spin injection across air-exposed epitaxially regrown semiconductor interfaces

We have fabricated spin-polarized light-emitting diode structures via epitaxial regrowth of Zn1−xMnxSe on air-exposed surfaces of AlyGa1−yAs/GaAs quantum wells. No passivation procedures were used to protect or prepare the III–V surface. The electroluminescence is strongly circularly polarized due to the electrical injection of spin-polarized electrons from the ZnMnSe contact into the GaAs quantum well. An analysis of the optical polarization yields a lower bound of 65% for the spin injection efficiency. These results demonstrate the robustness of the spin injection process in the diffusive transport regime, and attest to the practicality of manufacturing semiconductor-based spin injection devices.

Templated synthesis of ZnSe nanostructures using lyotropic liquid crystals.

We report a technique for controlled synthesis of zero-, one-, and two-dimensional compound semiconductor nanostructures by using cubic, hexagonal, and lamellar lyotropic liquid crystals as templates, respectively. The liquid crystals were formed by self-assembly in a ternary system consisting of a poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) amphiphilic block copolymer as the surfactant, heptane as the non-polar dispersed phase, and formamide as the polar continuous phase. ZnSe quantum dots and nanowires with diameters smaller than 10 nm, as well as free-standing, disc-like quantum wells, were grown inside the spherical, cylindrical, and planar nanodomains, respectively, by reacting diethylzinc that was dissolved in the heptane domains with hydrogen selenide gas that was brought into contact with the liquid crystal in a sealed chamber at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The shape and size of the resulting nanostructures can be manipulated by selecting the templating phase of the liquid crystal, the size of the dispersed nanodomains that is controlled by the composition of the template, and the concentration of diethylzinc in them.

Electrical spin pumping of quantum dots at room temperature

We report on electrical control of the spin polarization of InAs∕GaAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) at room temperature. This is achieved by electrical injection of spin-polarized electrons from an Fe Schottky contact. The circular polarization of the QD electroluminescence shows that a 5% electron spin polarization is obtained in the InAs QDs at 300K, which is remarkably insensitive to temperature. This is attributed to suppression of the spin-relaxation mechanisms in the QDs due to reduced dimensionality. These results demonstrate that practical regimes of spin-based operation are clearly attainable in solid-state semiconductor devices.