From Digital to Analogue Magnetoelectronics: Theory of Transport in Non-Collinear Magnetic Nanostructures

TL;DR

This paper reviews theoretical approaches to transport in non-collinear magnetic nanostructures, emphasizing the limitations of existing models and proposing renormalization techniques for highly transparent systems in magnetoelectronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a renormalization method for conductance parameters to improve the modeling of transport in highly transparent non-collinear magnetic nanostructures.

Findings

Random matrix and circuit theory are applicable to certain structures.

Existing theories fail for highly transparent systems in resistive environments.

Renormalization of conductance parameters addresses these limitations.

Abstract

Magnetoelectronics is mainly digital, i.e. governed by up and down magnetizations. In contrast, analogue magnetoelectronics makes use of phenomena occuring for non-collinear magnetization configurations. Here we review theories which have recently been applied to the transport in non-collinear magnetic nanostructures in two and multiterminal structures, viz. random matrix and circuit theory. Both are not valid for highly transparent systems in a resistive environment like perpendicular metallic spin valves. The solution to this problem is a renormalization of the conventional and spin-mixing conductance parameters.