Graphene Spin Valves for Spin Logic Devices

An alternative to charge-based electronics identifies the spin degree of freedom for information communication and processing. The long spin-diffusion length in graphene at room temperature demonstrates its ability for highly scalable spintronics. The development of the graphene spin valve (SV) has inspired spin devices in graphene including spin field-effect transistors and spin majority logic gates. A comprehensive picture of spin transport in graphene SVs is required for further development of spin logic. This review examines the advances in graphene SVs and their role in the development of spin logic devices. Different transport and scattering mechanisms in charge and spin are discussed. Furthermore, the on/off switching energy between graphene SVs and charge-based FETs is compared to highlight their prospects for low-power devices. The challenges and perspectives that need to be addressed for the future development of spin logic devices are then outlined.

Kondo effect with tunable spin-orbit interaction in LaTiO3/CeTiO3/SrTiO3 heterostructure

We have fabricated epitaxial films of CeTiO₃ (CTO) on (0 0 1) oriented SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates, which exhibit highly insulating and diamagnetic properties. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to establish the 3+  valence state of the Ce and Ti ions. Furthermore, we have also fabricated δ (CTO) doped LaTiO₃ (LTO)/SrTiO₃ thin films which exhibit variety of interesting properties including Kondo effect and spin-orbit interaction (SOI) at low temperatures. The SOI shows a non-monotonic behaviour as the thickness of the CTO layer is increased and is reflected in the value of characteristic SOI field ([Formula: see text]) obtained from weak anti-localization fitting. The maximum value of [Formula: see text] is 1.00 T for δ layer thickness of 6 u.c. This non-monotonic behaviour of SOI is attributed to the strong screening of the confining potential at the interface. The screening effect is enhanced by the CTO layer thickness and the dielectric constant of STO which increases at low temperatures. Due to the strong screening, electrons confined at the interface are spread deeper into the STO bulk where it starts to populate the Ti [Formula: see text] subbands; consequently the Fermi level crosses over from [Formula: see text] to the [Formula: see text] subbands. At the crossover region of [Formula: see text] where there is orbital mixing, SOI goes through a maximum.