Spintronics

Electrons are charged particles characterized by an intrinsic halb-integer spin degree of freedom.
Such proberty manifests itself in magnetic properties of some elements, like iron or mangonise.
In addition it is very useful in storage applications using magnetic memories.
In our group we investigate the impact of the electron at the nanoscale systems, of interest are e.g. hyprid structures with ferromagnetic elements.
Also, we consider how spin-orbit coupling impacts the transport properties of small nanoconductors.

Image - Source: A. Dirnaichner et al., PRB 91, 195402 (2015)

Figure:
The tunneling mangeto-resistance (TMR) of a carbon nanotube contacted to ferromagnetic leads can be tuned via a gate voltage.

See some key publications:

Double-island Coulomb blockade in (Ga,Mn)As nanoconstrictions
Stefan Geißler, Sebastian Pfaller, Martin Utz, Dominique Bougeard, Andrea Donarini, Milena Grifoni und Dieter Weiss
Phys. Rev. B 91, 195432 (2015)

Transport across a carbon nanotube quantum dot contacted with ferromagnetic leads: Experiment and nonperturbative modeling
Alois Dirnaichner, Milena Grifoni, Andreas Prüfling, Daniel Steininger, Andreas K. Hüttel und Christoph Strunk
Physical Review B (PRB) 91, 195402 (2015)

Thermoelectric spin accumulation and long-time spin precession in a noncollinear quantum dot spin valve
Bhaskaran Muralidharan und Milena Grifoni
Phys. Rev. B 88, 045402 (2013)

Sources of negative tunneling magnetoresistance in multilevel quantum dots with ferromagnetic contacts
Sonja Koller, Jens Paaske und Milena Grifoni
Phys. Rev. B 85, 045313 (2012)

Spin-dependent transport through interacting graphene armchair nanoribbons
Sonja Koller, Leonhard Mayrhofer und Milena Grifoni
New J. Phys. 12, 033038 (2010)

Interference effects in the Coulomb blockade regime: Current blocking and spin preparation in symmetric nanojunctions
Andrea Donarini, Georg Begemann und Milena Grifoni
Phys. Rev. B 82, 125451 (2010)

All-electric-spin control in interference single-electron transistors
Andrea Donarini, G. Begemann und Milena Grifoni
Nano Lett. 9, 2897 (2009)

Exchange effects in spin polarized transport through carbon nanotube quantum dots
C. Schenke, Sonja Koller, L. Mayrhofer und Milena Grifoni
Phys. Rev. B 80, 035412 (2009)

Transport through a double-quantum-dot system with noncollinearly polarized leads
R. P. Hornberger, S. Koller, G. Begemann, Andrea Donarini und Milena Grifoni
Phys. Rev. B 77, 245313 (2008)

Exchange effects on electron transport through single-electron spin-valve transistors
Wouter Wetzels, Gerrit E. W. Bauer und Milena Grifoni
Phys. Rev. B 74, 224406 (2006)

Noncollinear single-electron spin-valve transistors
Wouter Wetzels, Gerrit E. W. Bauer und Milena Grifoni
Phys. Rev. B 72, 020407 (2005)