Injecting and controlling spin populations and currents in semiconductors using optically induced quantum interference effects

Abstract

Summary form only given. This paper reviews the recent developments of epitaxial ferromagnetic heterostructures based on semiconductors for spintronics. The magnetotransport of prepared ferromagnetic III-V semiconductor heterostructures (Mn-delta-doped GaAs/Be-doped AlGaAs) and the control of ferromagnetism in the heterostructures by using gate electric field and light irradiation at relatively high Curie temperature (TC) (/spl sim/100 K) are also studied. This paper proposes and theoretically analyzes a spin MOSFET consisting of a MOS gate and ferromagnetic contacts for the source and drain. The spin MOSFET has large magnetocurrent ratios (spin dependent transport similar to the GMR or TMR devices), high transconductance (gm), and good compatibility with CMOS technology, which are very important for integrated circuit applications.