Half-metallicity proven using fully spin-polarized tunnelling

A half-metal has been defined as a material with propagating electron states at the Fermi energy only for one of the spin directions. But is it fully half-metallic, that is without electrons with opposite spin at that energy? We have studied the spin-conserving process of tunnelling between La0.7Sr0...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. Condensed matter 2005-10, Vol.17 (41), p.L407-L409
Main Authors: Bowen, M, Barthélémy, A, Bibes, M, Jacquet, E, Contour, J P, Fert, A, Wortmann, D, Blügel, S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties
Electronic transport in condensed matter
Exact sciences and technology
Physics
Spin polarized transport
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Summary:A half-metal has been defined as a material with propagating electron states at the Fermi energy only for one of the spin directions. But is it fully half-metallic, that is without electrons with opposite spin at that energy? We have studied the spin-conserving process of tunnelling between La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 half-metallic electrodes across an ultrathin SrTiO3 insulator. This experiment demonstrates that the class of half-metallic materials indeed exists at non-zero temperatures, even at interfaces. It also shows that a fully spin-polarized tunnelling current may persist at large bias.
ISSN:0953-8984
1361-648X
DOI:10.1088/0953-8984/17/41/L02