Local spin valve effect in lateral (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs spin Esaki diode devices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a local spin valve effect in lateral all-semiconductor devices using (Ga,Mn)As/GaAs Esaki diodes, highlighting the interplay of spin transport and tunneling magnetoresistance.

Contribution

It reports the first unambiguous observation of a local spin valve effect in lateral all-semiconductor devices with detailed analysis of the underlying mechanisms.

Findings

Spin-related magnetoresistance change of 30 Ohm observed.

Local spin-valve signal is twice the non-local signal magnitude.

Interplay between spin transport and tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance explained.

Abstract

We report on a local spin valve effect observed unambiguously in lateral all-semiconductor all-electrical spin injection devices, employing p+-(Ga,Mn)As/n+-GaAs Esaki diode structures as spin aligning contacts. We discuss the observed local spin-valve signal as a result of interplay between spin-transport-related contribution and tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance of magnetic contacts. The magnitude of the spin-related magnetoresistance change is equal to 30 Ohm which is twice the magnitude of the measured non-local signal.