Towards molecular spintronics.

Rocha, Alexandre R. and García-suárez, Vi­ctor M. and Bailey, Steve W. and Lambert, Colin J. and Ferrer, Jaime and Sanvito, Stefano (2005) Towards molecular spintronics. Nature Materials, 4. pp. 335-339. ISSN 1476-1122

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Abstract

The ability to manipulate electron spin in organic molecular materials offers a new and extremely tantalizing route towards spin electronics, both from fundamental and technological points of view. This is mainly due to the unquestionable advantage of weak spin–orbit and hyperfine interactions in organic molecules, which leads to the possibility of preserving spin-coherence over times and distances much longer than in conventional metals or semiconductors. Here we demonstrate theoretically that organic spin valves, obtained by sandwiching an organic molecule between magnetic contacts, can show a large bias-dependent magnetoresistance and that this can be engineered by an appropriate choice of molecules and anchoring groups. Our results, obtained through a combination of state-of-the-art non-equilibrium transport methods and density functional theory, show that although the magnitude of the effect varies with the details of the molecule, large magnetoresistance can be found both in the tunnelling and the metallic limit.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Nature Materials
Additional Information:
Building on Lambert's expertise in spin-polarised transport, this paper (56 citations) predicts giant magnetoresistance in single-molecule metallic spin valves. It has stimulated the formation of two UK and EU multi-disciplinary research consortia in molecular spintronics. Bailey, Garcia-Suarez and Sanvito are past or present members of Lambert's group. RAE_import_type : Journal article RAE_uoa_type : Physics
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2200/2211
Subjects:
?? *spintronics * hyperfine interactions * molecules *semiconductors * magnetoresistance * electric resistancemechanics of materialsgeneral materials sciencegeneral chemistrymechanical engineeringcondensed matter physicsmaterials science(all)chemistry(all)qc ??
ID Code:
2340
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
01 Apr 2008 15:52
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
16 Jul 2024 08:25