MAGNETIC NANOSTRUCTURES
FLAVIO M. DE AGUIAR, ANTONIO AZEVEDO AND SERGIO M. REZENDE
Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 50670-901 Recife PE, Brazil
Advances in surface science and nanofabrication techniques made research in small magnetic structures a very attractive field in recent years. In particular, the injection of spin-polarized carriers in metallic magnetic nanostructures is of considerable interest due to its importance to information technology. Prospective devices based on spin-dependent transport include magnetic sensors for high-density data storage media, and radiation-hard nonvolatile magnetic random access memories (MRAMs). Hence, there are hopes for radiation-resistant satellites and bootless computers in the foreseeing future. All that stems from the prodigious developments of planar electronics that now make ultrathin magnetic films the starting point of current research activities. This work reviews results of a detailed investigation of the prototype Fe/Cr/Fe system carried out in our laboratories. It is shown that consistent values for all magnetic parameters can be extracted from the data of four different experimental techniques with a theory that treats both static and dynamic responses on equal footing. In addition, magnetic excitations (spin waves) are shown to be strongly driven by a microwave current through this system, and interesting nonlinear phenomena are predicted to occur in the high-bias regime of an applied dc current. The resulting device has been called SWASER, given its analogy to the existing injection LASER. ( May 18, 2001 )
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
05 Oct 2001 -
Date of issue
Sept 2001
