Spin-polarized transport through carbon nanotubes

TL;DR

This paper reviews electron correlation effects in carbon nanotubes, focusing on nanotube/electrode coupling and inter-tube interactions, which influence spin-polarized transport and giant magneto-resistance phenomena.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of how electron correlations affect spin transport in CNTs, highlighting mechanisms behind experimental GMR observations.

Findings

Coupling and inter-tube interactions significantly impact GMR effects.

Negative (inverse) GMR can be explained by these correlation effects.

Electron correlations are crucial for understanding CNT-based spintronic devices.

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) belong to the most promising new materials which can in the near future revolutionize the conventional electronics. When sandwiched between ferromagnetic electrodes, the CNT behaves like a spacer in conventional spin-valves, leading quite often to a considerable giant magneto-resistance effect (GMR). This paper is devoted to reviewing some topics related to electron correlations in CNT. The main attention however is directed to the following effects essential for electron transport through nanotubes: (i) nanotube/electrode coupling and (ii) inter-tube interactions.It is shown that these effects may account for some recent experimental reports on GMR, including those on negative (inverse) GMR.