Building an atomic-scale vacuum trap for spin-polarized electrons
Physicists at the University of Hamburg in Germany experimentally realized a spin-resolved electron interferometer on the atomic scale.
They placed an atomically sharp magnetic probe tip in front of a magnetic sample surface, thereby realizing a one-dimensional trap for electrons in the gap. Only when resonance conditions in terms of electron energy and spin are fulfilled, standing wave states evolve in the trap, and injection of spin-polarized electrons into these states allows for the investigation of single electron reflection at the underlying atom at the surface. Providing unprecedented insights into the atomic-scale scattering mechanism, the study potentially paves the way towards future spintronic devices employing spin-dependent electron scattering and transport.
Wissenschaftlicher Ansprechpartner:
Dr. Anika Schlenhoff
Department of Physics
University of Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 42838 6201
E-Mail: aschlenh@physnet.uni-hamburg.de
Prof. Dr. Roland Wiesendanger
Department of Physics
University of Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 42838 5244
E-Mail: wiesendanger@physnet.uni-hamburg.de
Originalpublikation:
A. Schlenhoff, S. Kovařík, S. Krause, and R. Wiesendanger,
Vacuum resonance states as atomic-scale probes of noncollinear surface magnetism,
Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 087202 (2019).
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.087202
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