Journal of Physical Chemistry & Biophysics
Open Access

Spin manipulation at the interface of a topological insulator/GaAs heterostructure

International Conference on Physics

June 27-29, 2016 New Orleans, USA

Dongxia Qu

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Phys Chem Biophys

Abstract :

Spin generation, manipulation, and detection are foundations for spin physics and spintronics. One primary goal of spintronics is to discover materials and devices, which enable efficient electrical control of spins. The emerging field of topological insulators provides intriguing opportunities for spin generation and manipulation, owing to their strong spin-orbit character. Here we report that spins can be driven from a topological insulator thin film into an adjacent non-magnetic semiconductor at room temperature. At the interface between a topological insulator and GaAs heterostructure, a photo-induced spin current flows across the interface and induces an electrical current via the inverse spin Hall effect, which converts the spin current into a charge current. We find that the magnitude and direction of the helicity-dependent photocurrent can be controlled by gate-voltage, indicative of electric tuning of the spin configuration. Our results suggest that topological insulator heterostructures may eventually allow electric fields to manipulate the spin degree of freedom in a non-magnetic semiconductor, a new mechanism that can be used to create innovative optoelectronic and spintronic devices.

Biography :

Email: qu2@llnl.gov