Pavel V. Avramov

Tunnel magnetoresistance in Co nanoparticle/Co–C60 compound hybrid system

A nanometer-scale hybrid film of Co particle/Co–C60 compound was prepared by alternate deposition of Co and C60 under UHV condition. All of Raman spectra, magnetization curves, and tunnel conductivity concluded that the hybrid system has a granular structure consisting of Co nanoparticles embedded in a Co–C60 compound matrix. The magnetoresistance ratio of 26% was obtained at 2K and 10kOe for the electron tunneling across the Co–C60 compound barrier. In addition, anomalously large bias voltage dependence was found in the magnetotransport properties.

Single wall carbon nanotubes density of states: comparison of experiment and theory

Abstract We study the electronic structure of a variety of single wall carbon nanotubes and report density of states obtained with the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE) generalized gradient approximation and hybrid PBE0 approximation of density functional theory using Gaussian orbitals and periodic boundary conditions. PBE gives very good results for metallic tubes but the addition of a portion of exact exchange in the hybrid PBE0 functional worsens the agreement between experiment and theory. On the other hand, the PBE0 hybrid significantly improves the theoretical predictions (compared to PBE) for semiconducting tubes.

Giant tunnel magnetoresistance in codeposited fullerene-cobalt films in the low bias-voltage regime

Magnetotransport properties in the low bias-voltage regime were investigated for codeposited C60–Co films. A giant tunnel magnetoresistance (MR) ratio (ΔR∕Rmax) of 80%, which is the highest in ferromagnetic metal/organic molecule systems, was found at low temperatures. The observed bias-voltage dependence of the MR ratio is expressed by an unusual exponential form, suggesting that the MR ratio of nearly 100% can be realized in the low bias-voltage limit.

Contracted Interlayer Distance in Graphene/Sapphire Heterostructure

Direct growth of graphene on insulators is expected to yield significant improvements in performance of graphene-based electronic and spintronic devices. In this study, we successfully reveal the atomic arrangement and electronic properties of a coherent heterostructure of single-layer graphene and α-Al2O3(0001). The analysis of the atomic arrangement of single-layer graphene on α-Al2O3(0001) revealed an apparentcontradiction. The in-plane analysis shows that single-layer graphene grows not in a single-crystalline epitaxial manner, but rather in polycrystalline form, with two strongly pronounced preferred orientations. This suggests relatively weak interfacial interactions are operative. However, we demonstrate that unusually strong physical interactions between graphene and α-Al2O3(0001) exist, as evidenced by the small separation between the graphene and the α-Al2O3(0001) surface. The interfacial interaction is shown to be dominated by the electrostatic forces involved in the graphene π-system and the unsaturated electrons of the topmost O layer of α-Al2O3(0001), rather than the van der Waals interactions. Such features causes graphene hole doping and enable the graphene to slide on the α-Al2O3(0001) surface with only a small energy barrier despite the strong interfacial interactions.

Precise control of single- and bi-layer graphene growths on epitaxial Ni(111) thin film

In situ analysis was performed on the graphene growth in ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition by exposing the epitaxial Ni(111) thin film to benzene vapor at 873 K. It is shown that the highly uniform single- and bi-layer graphenes can be synthesized by the control of benzene exposure in the range of 10–105 langmuirs, reflecting a change in the graphene growth-rate by three orders of magnitude in between the first and second layer. Electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements of single- and bi-layer graphenes indicates that the interface interaction between bi-layer graphene and Ni(111) is weakened in comparison with that between single-layer graphene and Ni(111). It is also clarified from the micro-Raman analysis that the structural and electrical uniformities of the graphene film transformed on a SiO2 substrate are improved remarkably under the specific exposure conditions at which the growths of single- and bi-layer graphenes are completed.

Contact-induced spin polarization in graphene/h-BN/Ni nanocomposites

Atomic and electronic structure of graphene/Ni(111), h-BN/Ni(111) and graphene/h-BN/Ni(111) nanocomposites with different numbers of graphene and h-BN layers and in different mutual arrangements of graphene/Ni and h-BN/Ni at the interfaces was studied using LDA/PBC/PW technique. Using the same technique corresponding graphene, h-BN and graphene/h-BN structures without the Ni plate were calculated for the sake of comparison. It was suggested that C-top:C-fcc and N-top:B-fcc configurations are energetically favorable for the graphene/Ni and h-BN/Ni interfaces, respectively. The Ni plate was found to induce a significant degree of spin polarization in graphene and h-BN through exchange interactions of the electronic states located on different fragments.

Proximity-Induced Spin Polarization of Graphene in Contact with Half-Metallic Manganite

The role of proximity contact with magnetic oxides is of particular interest from the expectations of the induced spin polarization and weak interactions at the graphene/magnetic oxide interfaces, which would allow us to achieve efficient spin-polarized injection in graphene-based spintronic devices. A combined approach of topmost-surface-sensitive spectroscopy utilizing spin-polarized metastable He atoms and ab initio calculations provides us direct evidence for the magnetic proximity effect in the junctions of single-layer graphene and half-metallic manganite La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO). It is successfully demonstrated that in the graphene/LSMO junctions a sizable spin polarization is induced at the Fermi level of graphene in parallel to the spin polarization direction of LSMO without giving rise to a significant modification in the π band structure.

Atypical Quantum Confinement Effect in Silicon Nanowires

The quantum confinement effect (QCE) of linear junctions of silicon icosahedral quantum dots (IQD) and pentagonal nanowires (PNW) was studied using DFT and semiempirical AM1 methods. The formation of complex IQD/PNW structures leads to the localization of the HOMO and LUMO on different parts of the system and to a pronounced blue shift of the band gap; the typical QCE with a monotonic decrease of the band gap upon the system size breaks down. A simple one-electron one-dimensional Schrodinger equation model is proposed for the description and explanation of the unconventional quantum confinement behavior of silicon IQD/PNW systems. On the basis of the theoretical models, the experimentally discovered deviations from the typical QCE for nanocrystalline silicon are explained.

Quantum dots embedded into silicon nanowires effectively partition electron confinement

Motivated by the experimental discovery of branched silicon nanowires, we performed theoretical electronic structure calculations of icosahedral silicon quantum dots embedded into pentagonal silicon nanowires. Using the semiempirical method, we studied the quantum confinement effect in the fully optimized embedded structures. It was found that (a) the band gaps of the embedded structures are closely related to the linear sizes of the longest constituting part rather than to the total linear dimension and (b) the discovered atypical quantum confinement with a plateau and a maximum can be attributed to the substantial interactions of near Fermi level electronic states of the quantum dots and nanowire segments.

Density-functional theory study of the electronic structure of thin Si ∕ Si O 2 quantum nanodots and nanowires

The atomic and electronic structures of a set of proposed pentagonal thin (