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Electron spin flip scattering in graphene due to substrate impurities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2013

Aditi Goswami
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
Yue Liu
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
Feilong Liu
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
P. Paul Ruden
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
Darryl L. Smith
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
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Abstract

Graphene is a promising material for electronic and spintronic applications due to its high carrier mobility and low intrinsic spin-orbit interaction. However, extrinsic effects may easily dominate intrinsic scattering mechanisms. The scattering mechanisms investigated here are associated non-magnetic, charged impurities in the substrate (e.g. SiO2) beneath the graphene layer. Such impurities cause an electric field that extends through the graphene and has a non-vanishing perpendicular component. Consequently, the impurity, in addition to the conventional elastic, spin-conserving scattering can give rise to spin-flip processes. The latter is a consequence of a spatially varying Rashba spin-orbit interaction caused by the electric field of the impurity in the substrate. Scattering cross-sections are calculated and, for assumed impurity distributions, relaxation times are estimated.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013

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References

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