Spin-dependent electron transport in nanoscale samples

Abstract

In this thesis, we describe the research in which we use metallic nanoparticles to explore spin-dependent electron transport at nanometer scale. Nanoscale samples were fabricated by using a state of the art electron beam lithography and shadow evaporation technique. We have investigated spin relaxation and decoherence in metallic grains as a function of bias voltage and magnetic field at low temperatures (down to ∼ 30mK). At low temperatures, the discrete energy levels within a metallic nanoparticle provides a new means to study the physics of the spin-polarized electron tunneling. We describe measurements of spin-polarized tunneling via discrete energy levels of single Aluminum grain. Spin polarized current saturates quickly as a function of bias voltage, which demonstrates that the ground state and the lowest excited states carry spin polarized current. The ratio of electron-spin relaxation time (T1) to the electron-phonon relaxation rate is in quantitative agreement with the Elliot-Yafet scaling, an evidence that spin-relaxation in Al grains is driven by the spin-orbit interaction. The spin-relaxation time of the low-lying excited states is T1 ¡Ö 0.7 µs and 0.1 µs in two samples, showing that electron spin in a metallic grain could be a potential candidate for quantum information research. We also present measurements of mesoscopic resistance fluctuations in cobalt nanoparticles at low temperature and study how the fluctuations with bias voltage, bias fingerprints, respond to magnetization-reversal processes. Bias fingerprints rearrange when domains are nucleated or annihilated. The domain wall causes an electron wave function-phase shift of ∼ 5 ¦Ð. The phase shift is not caused by the Aharonov-Bohm effect; we explain how it arises from the mistracking effect, where electron spins lag in orientation with respect to the moments inside the domain wall. The dephasing length at low temperatures is only 30 nm, which is attributed to the large magnetocrystalline anisotropy in Co. xi