Rectification of Spin Currents in a Metal/Insulator/Metal Heterostructure

Abstract

Rectification of spin currents is investigated theoretically in a normal‐metal/ferromagnetic‐insulator/normal‐metal heterostructure. The ferromagnetic insulator is assumed to have an anisotropic parameter of Δ > 1, and thus it is gapped. In the presence of a magnetic field along the z‐direction, the ground state becomes the one with all spins pointing upward (in the z‐direction). When a spin‐up polarized current is incident from the left metal, it is suppressed due to spin blockade; however, the spin‐down polarized current can pass through the insulator easily. Thus rectification of spin currents can be realized and it is found that the rectification coefficient can be up to ≈10 (or even higher) in the limit of low temperature or large energy gap. It can be further improved when the spin system is asymmetrically coupled with the metals. The results could be useful in spintronics based on magnetic insulators.

Supersensitive and Broadband Photodetectors Based on High Concentration of Er3+/Yb3+ Co‐doped WS2 Monolayer

“…The results are highly consistent with the state‐of‐the‐art literature. [ 57 ] For another thing, the atomic numbers of Er (68) and Yb (70) are nearer to W (74), indicating small radius difference and lattice distortion, which contributes to improving the quality of the WS 2 (Er/Yb). The absorption of WS 2 (Er/Yb) based on the experiment is much larger than that of the pristine.…”