Spin valve effect by ballistic transport in ferromagnetic metal (MnAs) / semiconductor (GaAs) hybrid heterostructures
arXiv:0708.1681 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.77.214435
Abstract
We demonstrate the spin valve effect by ballistic transport in fully epitaxial MnAs ferromagnetic metal / GaAs semiconductor / GaAs:MnAs granular hybrid heterostructures. The GaAs:MnAs material contains ferromagnetic MnAs nanoparticles in a GaAs matrix, and acts as a spin injector and a spin detector. Although the barrier height of the GaAs/MnAs interface was found to be very small, relatively large magnetoresistance was observed. This result shows that by using ballistic transport, we can realize a large spin valve effect without inserting a high tunnel barrier at the ferromagnetic metal / semiconductor interface.
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