Point Contact Spin Spectroscopy of Ferromagnetic MnAs Epitaxial Films

TL;DR

This study measures the spin polarization of MnAs epitaxial films using point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy, revealing high spin polarization consistent with theoretical calculations and magnetoresistance observations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to accurately measure the transport spin polarization of MnAs films and confirms theoretical predictions with experimental data.

Findings

Ballistic transport spin polarization of ~49% for type A MnAs

Ballistic transport spin polarization of ~44% for type B MnAs

Results align with density functional calculations and magnetoresistance data

Abstract

We use point contact Andreev reflection spin spectroscopy to measure the transport spin polarization of MnAs epitaxial films grown on (001) GaAs. By analyzing both the temperature dependence of the contact resistance and the phonon spectra of lead acquired simultaneously with the spin polarization measurements, we demonstrate that all the point contacts are in the ballistic limit. A ballistic transport spin polarization of approximately 49% and 44% is obtained for the type A and type B orientations of MnAs, respectively. These measurements are consistent with our density functional calculations, and with recent observations of a large tunnel magnetoresistance in MnAs/AlAs/(Ga,Mn)As tunnel junctions.