Electric field and spin precession effects on spin injection to semiconductors in three-terminal ferromagnet insulator-nonmagnetic junctions

Abstract

The application of an electric field and the ensuing spin precession due to internal magnetic fields in the semiconductor of a three-terminal (3T) device is investigated using the standard diffusion theory. Because the externally applied current is confined in one direction in such a device, the effective electric field is assumed to be significant. The dominant precession direction that dictates the spin dynamics is perpendicular to both the injected spins and the electric field. At large effective electric fields, the polarization in the semiconductor is completely drawn from the polarization of the ferromagnet and becomes well-distributed in the semiconductor.