Recent experiments suggest that Ti doped ZnO can be a promising room temperature dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) and a potentially useful material for spintronic devices. Furthermore, the fact that Ti doped ZnO shows ferromagnetic behaviour despite it contains no magnetic element makes this system good candidate for theoretical investigation regarding the controversies about the origin of ferromagnetic ordering in TM-doped ZnO. In this work, the density functional theory (DFT) is used to calculate the electronic and magnetic structures of Ti-doped ZnO. The obtained results are used to discuss the origin of the ferromagnetism, and the contribution of different atoms in the magnetic moment.

For spintronic device applications, large and in particular tunable tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios are inevitable. Fully crystalline and epitaxially grown Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) are well suited for this purpose and, thus, are being intensively studied [1]. However, due to imperfect interfaces it is difficult to obtain sufficiently large TMR ratios that fulfill industrial demands (e.g. [2]).

A new means to increase TMR ratios is the insertion of ultra-thin metallic buffer layers at one or at both of the Fe/MgO interfaces. With regard to their magnetic and electronic properties as well as their small lattice mismatch to Fe(001), Co and Cr spacer are being preferably investigated.

We report on a systematic first-principles study of the effect of Co and Cr buffers (with thicknesses up to 6 ML) in Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) on the spin-dependent conductance. The results of the transport calculations reveal options to specifically tune the TMR ratio. Symmetric junctions, i.e. with Co buffers at both interfaces, exhibit for some thicknesses much larger TMR ratios in comparison to those obtained for Fe-only electrodes. Further, antiferromagnetic Cr films at a single interface introduce TMR oscillations with a period of 2 ML, a feature which provides another degree of freedom in device applications. The comparison of our results with experimental findings shows agreement and highlights the importance of interfaces for the TMR effect.

We have investigated the effect of 3d-transition metal Fe (Iron) doping at Mn site of nanometric polycrystalline La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (i.e. La0.7Sr0.3Mn1-xFexO3; 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) CMR manganites on magneto-transport and magnetic properties. Nanocrystalline Fe doped La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 powders were synthesized through chemical route “Pyrophoric Reaction Process” and calcinated at 850°C for 5 hrs. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of synthesized powder indicate that all samples are having perovskite structure without any secondary impurity phase. Average crystallite size was found to be 20 nm using Debye Scherer formula. Transmission electron micrographs (TEM) show that the average particle sizes are in nanometric regime (φ ˜ 50 nm) and samples are polycrystalline in nature which was observed through selected area electron diffraction (SEAD) patterns. The effect of Fe doping at Mn site of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 was found to change substantially the magnetic and transport properties without modifying lattice structure. The suppression of magnetic and transport properties were observed due to dilution of double exchange mechanism in Mn3+- O2--Mn4+ network in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3.

A GaMnAs ferromagnetic semiconductor film under compressive strain has strong biaxial in-plane anisotropy, which generates four stable magnetization directions at a zero magnetic field. This feature results in a double switching behavior in the main loop of planar Hall resistance (PHR) spectrum. The minor scan of PHR measurement exhibited staggered asymmetric loops due to the formation of the stable muti-domain structures. We demonstrated the observed four stable PHR states can be served as quaternary logic states for spin memory device.

In this study, we report on the diffusion of neodymium (Nd) and erbium (Er) into n-type and undoped GaN and subsequent measurements of the room-temperature (RT) magnetic and optical properties. The diffusion profile has been measured via secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) with rare-earth (RE) concentration yields of up to 1×1018/cm3. The ferromagnetic properties were measured using an alternating gradient magnetometer (AGM) giving a saturation magnetization (Ms) of up to 3.17emu/cm3 for the RE-diffused layer. The photoluminescence (PL) emission of the Nd-diffused and Er-diffused GaN is observable in the near-infrared (NIR) and infrared (IR) regions of the spectrum, respectively. The Nd-diffused GaN samples show NIR emission at 1064nm and 1350nm, while Er-diffused GaN samples have IR emission at 1546nm. This appears to be the first successful result of Nd diffusion doping into GaN crystals, and the first demonstration of above RT ferromagnetism involving GaN diffused with Nd. Details of our ferromagnetic and optical emission studies, related to the RE diffusion into GaN, are presented.

The galvanomagnetic and magnetic properties of novel diluted magnetic semiconductors Pb1-x-yCaxCryTe (x=0.06-0.20, y=0.003-0.045) have been investigated. Temperature dependencies of the resistivity and the Hall coefficient have a metallic character indicating the pinning of Fermi level by the chromium impurity level on the background of the conduction band states. Magnetization curves display a clear hysteresis loop over the whole temperature range investigated. The Curie temperature, determined from the temperature dependencies of magnetization, achieves 345 K. Possible mechanisms of ferromagnetic ordering were discussed.

The correlation between the Cr aggregation and magnetic properties are investigated for the series of Zn1-xCrxTe films grown by MBE with a systematic variation of growth conditions. Structural and chemical analyses using TEM and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) reveal that the crystallinity and the Cr distribution change significantly with the substrate temperature during the MBE growth. For a relatively low average Cr content x ≅ 0.05, it is found that the crystal quality is improved with the increase of the substrate temperature. For a higher average Cr content x ≅ 0.2, the shape of Cr-rich regions is transformed from isolated clusters into one-dimensional nanocolumns with the increase of the substrate temperature. The direction of the nanocolumn formation changes depending on the crystallographic orientation of the grown films. In the magnetization measurements, anisotropic magnetic properties are observed in the films in which Cr-rich nanocolumns are formed in the vertical direction, depending on the relation between the direction of the nanocolumns and the applied magnetic fields.

The spin dynamics of resident holes in singly p-doped InAs/GaAs quantum dots is studied by pump-probe photo-induced circular dichroism experiments. We show that the hole spin dephasing is controlled by the hyperfine interaction between the hole spin and nuclear spins. We find a characteristic hole spin dephasing time of 12 ns, in close agreement with our calculations based on a dipole-dipole coupling between the hole and the quantum dot nuclei. Finally we demonstrate that a small external magnetic field, typically 10 mT, quenches the hyperfine hole spin dephasing.

Fe3Si thin films were deposited on Si(001) from magnetron sputtering with varying deposition rates and subjected to post-deposition anneal (PDA). Structural investigations via XRD, SIMS and cross-sectional TEM reveal that high rate-deposited Fe3Si is amorphous while low rate-deposited Fe3Si is poly-crystalline with significant differences observed at the Fe3Si/Si interfaces. The structural differences were attributed to the influence of deposition rate on the grain nucleation and microstructural morphology in the as-deposited Fe3Si and the subsequent annealed films which in turn determine the ferromagnetic properties. Magnetic properties of Fe3Si deposited at high rate degrade with PDA - coercive field Hc increases from 1 to 14 Oe while saturation magnetization Ms decreases from ˜940 to 590 emu/cm3. In contrast, Fe3Si film sputter-deposited at low rate has a Hc of 5 Oe, Ms of ˜920 emu/cm3 and remnant magnetization Mr ˜0.9Ms that are maintained even upon PDA at 350 oC.

Single phase delafossite p-type CuFeO2 (CFO) semiconductor was synthesized in bulk by modified solid state reaction technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photo spectroscopy (XPS) studies suggest single phase CFO at room temperature. The energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) revealed that the atomic ratio of Cu and Fe is 1:1. The XPS spectra showed two intense Cu 2p3/2 and 2p1/2 peaks at 932.5 eV and 952 eV suggesting Cu is in +1 state. The temperature dependent Raman spectra of CFO displayed two intense modes at 349 cm-1 and 690 cm-1 at room temperature that matched with other delaffosite structures. The temperature dependent Raman spectra showed significant shift in both Raman active modes to lower frequency side. We observed the disappearance of pure CFO Raman active modes above 750 K and the appearance of new peaks related to CuO compounds, indicating disintegration of CFO starting above 750 K which almost completed above 1100 K. The temperature dependent thermo-gravimetric analysis indicates change in CFO mass above 750 K with wide range of differential thermo-gravimetric slope suggests disintegration started above 750 K and completed at 1100 K. Raman spectra, XPS, and XRD of disintegrated CFO matched well with the Raman spectra, XPS and XRD of CuO and CuFe2O4 confirmed its disintegration above 750 K in air.

Rotations of a single spin-qubit are demonstrated using only electrical gates. The results of simulations are presented for a typical gated quantum-well structure based on the strong spin-orbit semiconductor InSb, showing typical length and time scales for Hadamard and NOT operations. Approximate analytic expressions are derived for the spin transformations that give excellent agreement with the numerical results and demonstrate the generality of the method.

Dilute magnetic semiconductors are ferromagnetic semiconductors recently discovered in nitride and oxide semiconductors by incorporating a small percentage of magnetic atoms into the semiconductors host. Recently it is reported that the structural and electrical properties of pure indium oxide can be modified by growth parameters. In this paper we investigate magneto-transport properties of Co-doped In2O3 dilute magnetic semiconductors thin films grown on sapphire and quartz substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. The effect of partial oxygen pressure on structural, electrical, optical, and magneto-transport properties was discussed in details. The crystallinity of the films largely depends on growth temperature. Magneto-transport properties such as temperature dependent resistivity and magneto-resistance were found to be very sensitive to the micro-structural properties such as crystalinity as well as oxygen defect. The electrical carrier density of the films depends on oxygen pressure and a change of two orders of magnitude is observed. Depending on growth parameters, both positive and negative magneto-resistance is observed. Optical band-gap seems to vary with the growth partial oxygen pressure.

Evidence for long range ferromagnetic order above room-temperature, RTFM, in pristine ZnO, In2O3, TiO2 nanoparticles and thin films, containing no nominal magnetic elements have been reported recently. This could question the origin of RTFM in doped dilute alloys if for example the ZnO matrix itself develops a defect induced magnetic order with a significant moment per unit cell. In this presentation we report a systematic study of the film thickness dependence of RTFM in pure ZnO deposited by DC Magnetron Sputtering. We observe a maximum in the saturation magnetization, MS, value of 0.62 emu/g (0,018 μB/unit cell), for a ˜480 nm film deposited in an oxygen ambience of appropriate pressure. Above a thickness of around 1 μm the films are diamagnetic as expected. We thus see a sequential transition from ferromagnetism to para- and eventual diamagnetism as a function of film thickness in ZnO. We also find that in such a ZnO matrix with a maximum intrinsic defect induced moment, on doping with Mn the maximum enhanced MS value of 0.78 emu/g is obtained for 1at.% Mn doping. With this approach of appropriate doping in a defect tailored matrix, we routinely obtain RTFM in both undoped and Mn- doped ZnO thin films.

We study spin injection from an in-plane magnetized Fe thin layer into a GaAs/AlGaAs quantum well (QW) in low magnetic fields of ±0.37 T using oblique Hanle effect. An oblique low magnetic field induces the precession of electron spins in the GaAs QW, allowing us to detect the spin polarization of electrons injected across the Fe/AlGaAs interface. Our analysis of the circular polarization of light emitted in the electron-hole recombination process in the QW gives an estimate of the lower bounds of the spin polarization to be 4.0%. Also, a spin lifetime of 140 psec is obtained in this analysis, indicating that spin depolarization at the Fe/AlGaAs interface is more predominant rather than spin relaxation in the QW region.

Spin-polarized currents across an insulating tunnel barrier, needed for the development of efficient magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs), may be obtained using hard spin injector electrodes. Thin films of CoCr solid solutions have been fabricated involving two main steps: 1) deposition of Co/Cr alternated layers via RF magnetron sputtering both onto silicon (100) substrates and thermally oxidized wafers and 2) thermal annealing in a partial Ar pressure of 1 mTorr at 450°C for 1 hour and cooling treatment in a uniform magnetic field (600 Oe). The deposition of stacks of pure elements and subsequent diffusion treatment has been preferred instead of the direct deposition of the native alloy because in the former case the right composition and magnetic bias may be tuned more easily playing on the layer thicknesses and number of repetitions.

A detailed numerical correlation of field effect SEM images and EDX micro-maps was used to evaluate the oxygen diffusion on the magnetic film, while an alternating gradient force magnetometer (AGFM) allowed us to evaluate at room temperature both coercivity and magnetic bias obtained after the field cooling treatment. The effect of standard thermal treatment on the homogeneity of the films is discussed, and a possible alternative heating technique is proposed.