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
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78135 |
| Date | 13 June 2003 |
| Creators | Zwolak, Michael Philip |
| Contributors | Physics, Di Ventra, Massimiliano, Blecher, Marvin, Tauber, Uwe C. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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