ABSTRACT
We demonstrate that electron spin relaxation in GaAs in the proximity of a Fe/MgO layer is dominated by interaction with an exchange-driven hyperfine field at temperatures below 60 K. Temperature-dependent spin-resolved optical pump-probe spectroscopy reveals a strong correlation of the electron spin relaxation with carrier freeze-out, in quantitative agreement with a theoretical interpretation that at low temperatures the free-carrier spin lifetime is dominated by inhomogeneity in the local hyperfine field due to carrier localization. As the regime of large nuclear inhomogeneity is accessible in these heterostructures for magnetic fields <3 kG, inferences from this result resolve a long-standing and contentious dispute concerning the origin of spin relaxation in GaAs at low temperature when a magnetic field is present. Further, this improved fundamental understanding clarifies the importance of future experiments probing the time-dependent exchange interaction at a ferromagnet-semiconductor interface and its consequences for spin dissipation and transport during spin pumping.
ABSTRACT
Until recently the important role that spin-physics ('spintronics') plays in organic light-emitting devices and photovoltaic cells was not sufficiently recognized. This attitude has begun to change. We review our recent work that shows that spatially rapidly varying local magnetic fields that may be present in the organic layer dramatically affect electronic transport properties and electroluminescence efficiency. Competition between spin-dynamics due to these spatially varying fields and an applied, spatially homogeneous magnetic field leads to large magnetoresistance, even at room temperature where the thermodynamic influences of the resulting nuclear and electronic Zeeman splittings are negligible. Spatially rapidly varying local magnetic fields are naturally present in many organic materials in the form of nuclear hyperfine fields, but we will also review a second method of controlling the electrical conductivity/electroluminescence, using the spatially varying magnetic fringe fields of a magnetically unsaturated ferromagnet. Fringe-field magnetoresistance has a magnitude of several per cent and is hysteretic and anisotropic. This new method of control is sensitive to even remanent magnetic states, leading to different conductivity/electroluminescence values in the absence of an applied field. We briefly review a model based on fringe-field-induced polaron-pair spin-dynamics that successfully describes several key features of the experimental fringe-field magnetoresistance and magnetoelectroluminescence.
ABSTRACT
A theory is introduced for spin relaxation and spin diffusion of hopping carriers in a disordered system. For disorder described by a distribution of waiting times between hops (e.g., from multiple traps, site-energy disorder, and/or positional disorder) the dominant spin relaxation mechanisms in organic semiconductors (hyperfine, hopping-induced spin-orbit, and intrasite spin relaxation) each produce different characteristic spin relaxation and spin diffusion dependences on temperature. The resulting unique experimental signatures predicted by the theory for each mechanism in organic semiconductors provide a prescription for determining the dominant spin relaxation mechanism.
ABSTRACT
A model for magnetoresistance in positionally disordered organic materials is presented and solved using percolation theory. The model describes the effects of spin dynamics on hopping transport by considering changes in the effective density of hopping sites, a key quantity determining the properties of percolative transport. Faster spin-flip transitions open up "spin-blocked" pathways to become viable conduction channels and hence produce magnetoresistance. Features of this percolative magnetoresistance can be found analytically in several regimes, and agree with previous measurements, including the sensitive dependence of the magnetic-field dependence of the magnetoresistance on the ratio of the carrier hopping time to the hyperfine-induced carrier spin precession time. Studies of magnetoresistance in known systems with controllable positional disorder would provide an additional stringent test of this theory.
