No description available.

No description available.

DNA is a potential component in molecular electronics. To explore this end, there has been an incredible amount of research on how well DNA conducts and by what mechanism. There has also been a tremendous amount of research to find new uses for it in nanoscale electronics. DNA's self-assembly and recognition properties have found a unique place in this area. We predict, using a tight-binding model, that spin-dependent transport can be observed in short DNA molecules sandwiched between ferromagnetic contacts. In particular, we show that a DNA spin-valve can be realized with magnetoresistance values of as much as 26% for Ni and 16% for Fe contacts. Spin-dependent transport can broaden the possible applications of DNA as a component in molecular electronics and shed new light into the transport properties of this important biological molecule. / Master of Science

In this thesis we present three different aspects of spin and spin-dependent transport properties in novel materials. Spurred by the prospect of spintronic devices, which use the spin degree of freedom of electrons instead of, or combined with, the charge degree of freedom, we analyse the spin properties of quantum wires, organic conducting polymers and sheets of graphene. First, we examine a quantum wire that is embedded in a two dimensional electron gas. We consider the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, and include the effect of interaction between the conduction electrons. We construct an analytically solvable low-energy theory for the wire, and explore the interaction between two magnetic impurities in the wire. We find that both the spin-orbit coupling and the electron-electron interaction have an effect on the magnetic interaction, and find the magnetic interaction to be tunable by an electric field. Next, we study an organic conducting polymer, which is contacted to magnetised ferromagnetic leads. In semiconducting organic polymers the current is transported by spinful polarons and spinless bipolarons. We simulate the transport through the system, including both types of charge carriers, and find the current to be insensitive to the presence of bipolarons. In addition, we find the bipolaron density to depend on the relative magnetisation of the ferromagnetic contacts. This constitutes an optical way of measuring the spin accumulation in conducting polymers. Finally, we investigate the optical conductivity of graphene. Symmetry arguments indicate the existence of two kinds of spin-orbit coupling in the two dimensional lattice, but there is no consensus about the actual strength of these couplings. We calculated the microwave optical conductivity of graphene including both possible spin-orbit interactions. We find the low frequency dependence of the optical conductivity to have a unique imprint of the spin-orbit couplings. This opens a possibility to experimentally determine both couplings separately.

Nesta dissertação, fazemos a primeira investigação sobre flutuações em corrente e corrente média dependentes de spin em potenciais duplo e simples da estrutura Zn1-xMnxSe. Consideramos efeitos de campos magnético e elétrico externos à temperatura nula. Na presença de um campo magnético, a interação dos íons de Mn com elétrons de condução e valência (interação de troca sp-d) origina potenciais dependentes de spin para o transporte em Zn1-xMnxSe. Aqui, flutuações em corrente (\"shot noise\") e a corrente média são calculados usando o modelo quântico de transporte através do potencial dependente de spin é descrito por uma matriz s de espalhamento. Os elementos da matriz de espalhamento, i.e., as amplitudes de transmissão e reflexão, são determinados pelo método da matriz transferência. Nossos resultados indicam que estruturas de potenciais simples e duplos Zn1-xMnxSe agem como se fossem \"filtros de spin\" para corrente. Em determinadas faixas de parâmetros do sistema, \"shot noise\" pode complementar informações obtidas da corrente média / In this dissertation we investigation for the first time spin dependent-current and its fluctuations in double and single barrier potentials of the Zn1-xMn xSe structure sandwiched between ZnSe layers. We consider effects of external magnetic field, the interaction of the Mn ions with thew conduction and valence electrons (sp-d exchange interation) give rises to spin-dependent potentials for transport across the Zn1-xMn xSe layer. Here, the average current and its fluctuations are calculated using the quantum transport model in which transport across the spin-dependent potential is described via scattering matrix s. The elements of the scattering matrix, i.e., the transmission and reflection amplitudes, are determined through the transfer-matrix method. Our results indicate date single and double potentials of the Zn1-xMn xSe structure act as \"spin filters\" for the current. Within some system parameter range, shot noise can supplement the information contained in the average current

Nesta dissertação, fazemos a primeira investigação sobre flutuações em corrente e corrente média dependentes de spin em potenciais duplo e simples da estrutura Zn1-xMnxSe. Consideramos efeitos de campos magnético e elétrico externos à temperatura nula. Na presença de um campo magnético, a interação dos íons de Mn com elétrons de condução e valência (interação de troca sp-d) origina potenciais dependentes de spin para o transporte em Zn1-xMnxSe. Aqui, flutuações em corrente (\"shot noise\") e a corrente média são calculados usando o modelo quântico de transporte através do potencial dependente de spin é descrito por uma matriz s de espalhamento. Os elementos da matriz de espalhamento, i.e., as amplitudes de transmissão e reflexão, são determinados pelo método da matriz transferência. Nossos resultados indicam que estruturas de potenciais simples e duplos Zn1-xMnxSe agem como se fossem \"filtros de spin\" para corrente. Em determinadas faixas de parâmetros do sistema, \"shot noise\" pode complementar informações obtidas da corrente média / In this dissertation we investigation for the first time spin dependent-current and its fluctuations in double and single barrier potentials of the Zn1-xMn xSe structure sandwiched between ZnSe layers. We consider effects of external magnetic field, the interaction of the Mn ions with thew conduction and valence electrons (sp-d exchange interation) give rises to spin-dependent potentials for transport across the Zn1-xMn xSe layer. Here, the average current and its fluctuations are calculated using the quantum transport model in which transport across the spin-dependent potential is described via scattering matrix s. The elements of the scattering matrix, i.e., the transmission and reflection amplitudes, are determined through the transfer-matrix method. Our results indicate date single and double potentials of the Zn1-xMn xSe structure act as \"spin filters\" for the current. Within some system parameter range, shot noise can supplement the information contained in the average current

No description available.

Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der mikroskopischen Modellierung von strominduziertem Schalten der Magnetisierung in magnetischen Tunnelstrukturen. Die Tunnelstruktur besteht aus zwei durch einen nichtmagnetischen Isolator voneinander getrennten Ferromagneten und einem Paramagneten, der als Elektronenreservoir dient. Die Ferromagnete werden beide durch das Hubbard-Modell beschrieben. Durch Anlegen einer Spannung verschieben sich die chemischen Potentiale auf beiden Seiten des Isolators, wodurch ein endlicher Tunnelstrom entsteht. Dieser wird im Rahmen des Modells durch eine Hybridisierung zwischen benachbarten Schichten simuliert. Das Modell muss im Nichtgleichgewicht gelöst werden, da aufgrund der unterschiedlichen chemischen Potentiale thermodynamisches Gleichgewicht nicht angenommen werden darf. Daher wird zur analytischen Auswertung der Keldysh-Formalismus verwendet, der eine Erweiterung der Viel-Teilchen-Theorie ins Nichtgleichgewicht darstellt. Da es sich beim Hubbard-Modell um ein nicht exakt lösbares Viel-Teilchen-Modell handelt, wurde in der Arbeit eine approximative Lösung, der sogenannte Nichtgleichgewichtsspektraldichteansatz, entwickelt. Dieser beruht auf einer Hochenergieentwicklung der retardierten Greenfunktion mit Hilfe der exakt berechenbaren Spektralmomente. Die numerischen Resultate stimmen qualitativ mit dem Experiment überein. Insbesondere gelingt es, das Hystereseverhalten der Magnetisierung des freien Ferromagneten in Abhängigkeit der angelegten Spannung korrekt zu reproduzieren. Es kann somit allein durch Anlegen einer Spannung kontrolliert zwischen paralleler und antiparalleler Ausrichtung der Magnetisierungen geschaltet werden. Dieses Phänomen ist anhand der entsprechenden Quasiteilchenzustandsdichten erklärbar. Weiterhin wird das Verhalten der kritischen Spannung systematisch in Form von Phasendiagrammen dargestellt und diskutiert. / This thesis is concerned with the microscopic modelling of current-induced switching of magnetization in magnetic tunnel junctions. The tunnel junction consists of two ferromagnets which are divided by a nonmagnetic insulator and a paramagnet, which acts as an electron reservoir. The ferromagnets are both described by the Hubbard model. By applying a voltage the chemical potentials on both sides of the insulator are shifted which results in a finite tunneling current. Within the model the current is simulated by a hybridization between neighbouring regions. The model has to be solved in non-equilibrium since thermal equilibrium requires a constant chemical potential for the whole system, which is not the case due to the voltage. Thus the Keldysh formalism will be used for evaluating the model. Since the Hubbard model is not exactly solvable one needs approximations. In this work a non-equilbrium spectral density approach is developed. It is based on a high-energy expansion of the retarded Green''s function and takes interactions beyond the mean field level into account. The numerical results of the theory are in qualitative agreement with experiments. It will be shown that it is possible to correctly get the hysterisis behaviour of the magnetization of the free ferromagnet in dependence on the applied voltage. Thus the relative alignment of the two magnetizations can be switched just by applying an electric field. This can be explained with the corresponding quasiparticle densities of state. Furthermore the behaviour of the critical voltage will be discussed systematically by calculating phase diagrams of the tunnel junction.

La spintronique antiferromagnétique est un domaine de recherche émergent dans le secteur des technologies de l'information. Ce domaine exploite la combinaison unique de propriétés dans les matériaux antiferromagnétiques. Leur grande fréquence d'excitation, leur robustesse face à des champs extérieurs, une aimantation totale nulle et la possibilité de générer de forts effets de magnéto-transport les rendent particulièrement intéressants. Le transfert de spin, le couplage spin-orbite et les effets caloritroniques constituent les phénomènes qui ont façonné une grande partie de la recherche et des développements récents en spintronique. Dans cette thèse, nous avons étudié les effets de transfert et de pompage de spin dans des antiferromagnétiques métalliques et isolants au moyen de la technique de résonance ferromagnétique, dans des tricouches du type injecteur de spin ferromagnétique - NiFe, CoFeB / (conducteur de spin - Cu / absorbeur de spin antiferromagnétique - IrMn, NiFeOx, NiO. Les mesures de la dépendance en température de la relaxation ferromagnétique ont révélé un nouvel effet de pompage de spin associé aux fluctuations linéaires lors de la transition de phase magnétique de l'antiferromagnétique, quel que soit l'état électronique et la nature du transport de spin. Cela ouvre de nouvelles voies pour un pompage de spin plus efficace, tout en fournissant une méthode polyvalente pour mesurer la température critique des films ultra-minces à aimantation totale nulle. Dans le but de mesurer à la fois les fluctuations de spin linéaires et non linéaires dans l'antiferromagnétique, nous avons effectué des mesures électriques dans une configuration de mesure du type ‘spin Hall’. Une dépendance en température non-monotone inédite de la tension dc transverse a parfois été observée. Elle est principalement associée aux propriétés d’un ferromagnétique spécifique: le Permalloy, sans rapport avec les effets de rectification de spin. Ces résultats s'ajoutent à une littérature croissante sur l'absorption d’un courant de spin, soulignant la capacité des ferromagnétiques à agir comme détecteurs de courant de spin émis à la suite de phénomènes impliquant une dynamique d’aimantation. Finalement, nous avons utilisé le couplage d'échange pour étudier et ensuite façonner les propriétés magnétiques et électriques de plusieurs antiferromagnétiques destinés à diverses applications spintroniques, y compris la lecture par magnétorésistance tunnel anisotrope. / Antiferromagnetic spintronics is an emerging research field in the area of information technology that exploits the unique combination of properties of antiferromagnets. It is their high excitation frequency, robustness against external fields, zero net magnetization and possibility of generating large magneto-transport effects that makes them so interesting. Spin transfer, spin-orbit coupling and spin caloritronics constitute the phenomena that have shaped much of the recent research and development towards pure antiferromagnetic spintronics. Here we investigate spin transfer torque and spin pumping in both metallic and insulating antiferromagnets by means of ferromagnetic resonance technique, in ferromagnetic spin injector – NiFe, CoFeB / (spin conductor – Cu) / antiferromagnetic spin sink – IrMn, NiFeOx, NiO trilayers. Temperature dependence measurements of the ferromagnetic relaxation revealed a novel spin pumping effect associated to the linear fluctuations at the magnetic phase transition of the antiferromagnet, regardless its electronic state and the nature of the spin transport. This opens new ways towards more efficient spin pumping, while providing at the same time a versatile method to probe the critical temperature of ultrathin films with zero net magnetization. Next, in an effort to probe linear as well as non-linear fluctuations in the antiferromagnet we conducted electrical measurements in spin Hall geometry. A novel non-monotonous temperature dependence of transverse dc voltage was sometimes observed, mostly associated to the properties of a specific ferromagnet: Permalloy, unrelated to spin rectification effects. These findings add to a growing body of literature on spin current absorption, highlighting the ability of ferromagnets to act as spin current detectors, in phenomena involving magnetization dynamics. Finally, we used exchange bias to investigate and subsequently engineer the magnetic and electric properties of various antiferromagnets intended for diverse spintronic applications including reading via tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance.

Gegenstand dieser Arbeit sind Wellenphänomene in mesoskopischen Ringstrukturen. In Teil I der Arbeit befassen wir uns mit spinabhängigem Transport von Elektronen in effektiv eindimensionalen Ringen in Gegenwart inhomogener Magnetfelder. Wir benutzen die exakten Lösungen der Schrödinger-Gleichung im allgemeinen nicht-adiabatischen Fall in einem Transfer-Matrix-Formalismus und untersuchen Auswirkungen von geometrischen Phasen auf den Magnetwiderstand. Für den Spezialfall eines Magnetfeldes in der Ringebene sagen wir einen interessanten Spin-Flip-Effekt vorher, der die Steuerung der Polarisationsrichtung von Elektronen über einen externen Aharonov-Bohm-Fluß erlaubt. Optische mesoskopische Systeme sind Thema von Teil II dieser Arbeit. Wir betrachten zweidimensionale annulare Strukturen, charakterisiert durch unterschiedliche Brechungsindizes, sowohl im klassischen Bild der geometrischen Optik als auch mit Wellenmethoden auf der Grundlage der Maxwellschen Gleichungen. Insbesondere diskutieren wir erstmals eine Streumatrixbeschreibung optischer Mikroresonatoren und wenden sie auf das dielektrische annulare Billard an. Ein Vergleich der Ergebnisse des Wellen- und Strahlenbildes liefert eine gute Übereinstimmung, jedoch sind im Grenzfall großer Wellenlängen von der Ordnung der Systemabmessungen Korrekturen zum Strahlenbild nötig. Wir zeigen am Beispiel von Fresnel-Gesetzen für gekrümmte Oberflächen erstmals, daß der Goos-Hänchen-Effekt diese Korrekturen quantitativ erfaßt. Ausgehend von der Wellenbeschreibung leiten wir neue analytische Formeln für verallgemeinerte Fresnel-Gesetze für beide möglichen Polarisationsrichtungen ab. Die Anwendung des Strahlenbildes erlaubt eine schlüssige Interpretation eines Experiments mit einer quadrupolaren Glasfaser, außerdem schlagen wir Strahlenkonzepte als Grundlage der Konstruktion von Mikrolasern mit maßgeschneiderten Charakteristika vor. / In this work we investigate wave phenomena in mesoscopic systems using different theoretical approaches. In Part I, we focus on effectively one-dimensional electronic ring structures and address the phenomenon of geometric phases in spin-dependent electronic transport in the presence of non-uniform magnetic fields. In the general non-adiabatic case, exact solutions of the Schrödinger equation are used in a transfer matrix formalism to compute the transmission probability through the ring. In the magneto-conductance we identify clear signatures of interference effects due to geometric phases, for example in rings where the non-uniform field is created by a central micromagnet. For the special case of an in-plane magnetic field we predict an interesting spin-flip effect that allows one to control the spin polarization of electrons by applying an external Aharonov-Bohm flux. Optical mesoscopic systems are the subject of Part II. We consider two-dimensional annular structures characterized by different refractive indices, and apply classical methods from geometric optics as well as wave concepts based on Maxwell's equations. For the first time, an S-matrix approach is successfully employed in the description of resonances in optical microresonators; in particular we propose the dielectric annular billiard as an attractive model system. Comparing ray and wave pictures, we find general agreement, except for large wavelengths of the order of the system size, where corrections to the ray model are necessary. The Goos-Hänchen effect as an extension of the ray picture is shown to quantitatively account for wave modifications of Fresnel's laws due to curved interfaces. We derive novel analytical expressions for the corrected Fresnel formulas for both polarizations of light. Motivated by the successful ray description, we give a conclusive interpretation of a recent filter experiment on a quadrupolar glass fibre, and suggest novel concepts for microresonator-based lasers.