Science Daily October 5, 2018
A key element for future spin-light applications is efficient quantum information transfer at room temperature, but at room temperature the electron spin orientation is nearly randomized. This means that the information encoded in the electron spin is lost or too vague to be reliably converted to its distinct chiral light. Researchers in Sweden have devised an efficient spin-light interface. The key element of the device is extremely small disks of GaNAs, a couple of nanometres high stacked on top of each other with a thin layer of GaAs between to form chimney-shaped nanopillars. Fewer than one out of a million gallium atoms are displaced from their designated lattice sites in the material. The resulting defects in the material act as efficient spin filters that can drain electrons with an unwanted spin orientation and preserve those with the desired spin orientation. The researchers hope that their proposed device will inspire new designs of spin-light interfaces, which hold great promise for future opto-spintronics applications…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE