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We report on our activities and findings associated with the award DE-SC0021425. The goal of this project was to further our understanding of the limiting mechanisms behind finite photocathode lifetime and to improve the performance of high current sources of relativistic electrons, both spin-polarized and unpolarized.
The Co 2 family of ferromagnetic Heusler alloys has attracted interest due to their fully spin-polarized nature, making them ideal for applications in spintronic devices. More recently, the existence of room temperature time-reversal-breaking Weyl nodes near the Fermi level was predicted and confirmed in these systems. As a result of the presence of these Weyl nodes, these systems possess a non-zero momentum space Berry curvature that can dramatically influence transport properties such as the anomalous Hall effect. One of these candidate compounds is Co 2 TiGe. Recently, high-quality molecular beam epitaxy-grown thin films of Co 2 TiGe have become available. In this work, we present a THz-range measurement of MBE-grown Co 2 TiGe films. We measure the THz-range Faraday rotation, which can be understood as a measure of the anomalous Hall effect. We supplement this work with electronic band-structure calculations showing that the principal contribution to the anomalous Hall effect in this material stems from the Berry curvature of the material. Overall, our work shows that this class of Heusler materials shows promise for Weyl semimetal based spintronics.
Mechanically exfoliated two-dimensional ferromagnetic materials (2D FMs) possess long-range ferromagnetic order and topologically nontrivial skyrmions in few layers. However, because of the dimensionality effect, such few-layer systems usually exhibit much lower Curie temperature (T C ) compared to their bulk counterparts. It is therefore of great interest to explore effective approaches to enhance their T C , particularly in wafer-scale for practical applications. Here, we report an interfacial proximity-induced high-T C 2D FM Fe 3 GeTe 2 (FGT) via A-type antiferromagnetic material CrSb (CS) which strongly couples to FGT. A superlattice structure of (FGT/CS) n , where n stands for the period of FGT/CS heterostructure, has been successfully produced with sharp interfaces by molecular-beam epitaxy on 2-inch wafers. By performing elemental specific X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements, we have unequivocally discovered that T C of 4-layer Fe 3 GeTe 2 can be significantly enhanced from 140 K to 230 K because of the interfacial ferromagnetic coupling. Meanwhile, an inverse proximity effect occurs in the FGT/CS interface, driving the interfacial antiferromagnetic CrSb into a ferrimagnetic state as evidenced by double-switching behavior in hysteresis loops and the XMCD spectra. Density functional theory calculations show that the Fe-Te/Cr-Sb interface is strongly FM coupled and doping of the spin-polarized electrons by the interfacial Cr layer gives rise to the T C enhancement of the Fe 3 GeTe 2 films, in accordance with our XMCD measurements. Strikingly, by introducing rich Fe in a 4-layer FGT/CS superlattice, T C can be further enhanced to near room temperature. Our results provide a feasible approach for enhancing the magnetic order of few-layer 2D FMs in wafer-scale and render opportunities for realizing realistic ultra-thin spintronic devices.
Coupling ordinary metals with topological Bi 2 Se 3 can instigate the long-range migration of the spin-polarized Dirac states. Instead, for trivial metallic VSe 2 films on Bi 2 Se 3 , topological and trivial Rashba-type interface states emerge, each strongly localized at the VSe 2 /Bi 2 Se 3 interface. Their rapidly decaying spectral weights are uncovered by thickness-dependent band mappings of VSe 2 films and replicated by a phenomenological first-principles model of the spectral function. In this work, the results are pertinent to spintronic devices requiring spin transmission across metal/topological insulator interfaces.
GaAs-based photocathodes are one of the major sources of spin-polarized electrons and are crucial for the upcoming Electron-Ion collider experiments which includes study of proton spin and spin parity violation in the standard model. The theoretical polarization limit in unstrained GaAs photocathodes is 50 % but only 35 % is routinely achieved in experiments. Spin selective filtering allows to boost the spin polarization beyond the 50 % theoretical limit. In this work, first-principle electronic calculations using standard Density Functional Theory are performed to predict possible Heusler alloy half-metal candidates to be used as spin-filter. Simulations are also performed to investigate the half-metallicity as function of the magnetic spin direction. Several devices are experimentally fabricated using dedicated Molecular Beam Epitaxy growth system. We implemented Quantum Efficiency and Polarization testing of these half-metal/GaAs heterostructures using a dedicated Mott polarimeter system. Photoemission can also be seen on magnetically switching the spin-filter direction accompanied by a change in sign of the asymmetry which is a qualitative proof of the spin-filtering effect.
The high precision measurement of the centre-of-mass energy in the Future Circular Collider e+e- (FCC-ee) at Z and W energies can be realized through resonant spin depolarization utilizing transversely polarized beams. This requires a guaranteed sufficiently-high spin polarization in the presence of lattice imperfections. Investigations of the impact of misalignments on the equilibrium polarization are conducted using analytical and Monte-Carlo spin simulations with Bmad. Potential optimization schemes to ensure high polarization using orbit bumps have been explored.
This technical note describes the design of a compact focusing solenoid constructed from permanent bar magnets, intended for the low-energy section of a spin-polarized electron injector. Typically, quadrupole triplets provide appropriate focusing for the low-energy spin rotator section; however, their large footprint precludes the insertion of sufficient beam diagnostics. The primary motivation of this study is to provide beam focusing while preserving the vertical spin orientation of the electron beam. We propose a solenoidal field composed of multiple permanent magnets arranged to naturally yield a zero longitudinal magnetic field integral ($\int B_zdz = 0$). This design serves as a compact, passive, and non-coupling alternative to traditional quadrupole triplets. We present the magnet arrangement, field calculation methodology, spin tracking simulations using space charge codes, and calculations demonstrating that the required field strength is achievable.