Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties. Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.

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Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications

A quantum dissipation theory is constructed with the system–bath interaction being treated rigorously at the second-order cumulant level for both reduced dynamics and initial canonical boundary condition. The theory is valid for arbitrary bath correlation functions and time-dependent external driving fields, and satisfies correlated detailed-balance relation at any temperatures. The general formulation assumes a particularly simple form in driven Brownian oscillator systems in which the correlated driving-dissipation effects can be accounted for exactly in terms of local-field correction. Remarks on a class of widely used phenomenological quantum master equations that neglects the bath dispersion-induced dissipation are also made in contact with the present theory.

Theory of open quantum systems

The interaction of subpicosecond laser pulses with magnetically ordered materials has developed into a fascinating research topic in modern magnetism. From the discovery of subpicosecond demagnetization over a decade ago to the recent demonstration of magnetization reversal by a single 40 fs laser pulse, the manipulation of magnetic order by ultrashort laser pulses has become a fundamentally challenging topic with a potentially high impact for future spintronics, data storage and manipulation, and quantum computation. Understanding the underlying mechanisms implies understanding the interaction of photons with charges, spins, and lattice, and the angular momentum transfer between them. This paper will review the progress in this field of laser manipulation of magnetic order in a systematic way. Starting with a historical introduction, the interaction of light with magnetically ordered matter is discussed. By investigating metals, semiconductors, and dielectrics, the roles of nearly free electrons, charge redistributions, and spin-orbit and spin-lattice interactions can partly be separated, and effects due to heating can be distinguished from those that are not. It will be shown that there is a fundamental distinction between processes that involve the actual absorption of photons and those that do not. It turns out that for the latter, the polarization of light plays an essential role in the manipulation of the magnetic moments at the femtosecond time scale. Thus, circularly and linearly polarized pulses are shown to act as strong transient magnetic field pulses originating from the nonabsorptive inverse Faraday and inverse Cotton-Mouton effects, respectively. The recent progress in the understanding of magneto-optical effects on the femtosecond time scale together with the mentioned inverse, optomagnetic effects promises a bright future for this field of ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetic order or femtomagnetism.

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Ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetic order

A nuclear magnetic double‐resonance method for the determination of chemical exchange rates has been developed. The method is applicable to systems in which a nuclear spin is reversibly transferred between two nonequivalent sites, A and B. The lifetime (τA) and spin—lattice relaxation time (T1A) in Site A are obtained through the study of the decay to a new equilibrium value of Signal A upon the sudden saturation of Signal B. The converse experiment permits the determination of τB and T1B. A number of data for cross checks are furthermore obtained through the study of the recovery of the signals upon the release of various combinations of saturating rf fields.A simple theory based on the Bloch equations as modified by McConnell to incorporate the effects of chemical exchange is given. Experimental results on the hydroxyl proton exchange in the system salicylaldehyde and 2‐hydroxyacetophenone are well described by this simple theory.The present method, which can readily be extended to systems with several ...

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Study of Moderately Rapid Chemical Exchange Reactions by Means of Nuclear Magnetic Double Resonance

With well-defined coherent light pulses of several ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}12}$ sec duration we are in a position to investigate a variety of ultrafast vibrational processes in liquids and solids. Several new experimental techniques have been devised to study directly the dynamics of different vibrational modes and molecules in the electronic ground state. A first light pulse excites the vibrational system via stimulated Raman scattering or by resonant infrared absorption. A second interrogating pulse allows one to determine the instantaneous state of the excited system. Using a coherent probing technique one can measure the dephasing time of homogeneously broadened vibrational transitions and a collective beating of multiple isotope levels. In addition, one can investigate inhomogeneously broadened vibrational modes and observe the dephasing time of a small molecular subgroup. Different information is obtained when the coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering of the probe pulse is measured. The population lifetime of known vibrational modes can be investigated and evidence for inter- and intra-molecular interactions is obtained. In a third probing technique, the vibrationally excited jolecules are promoted to the first electronic state by a second pulse and the fluorescence is measured. In this way it is possible to see the very rapid change of population of the primary excited vibrational mode. The article gives a detailed theoretical treatment of different excitation and probing processes. Several experimental techniques successfully applied in the authors investigations are outlined and a variety of results is presented and discussed. New information, not available from other experimental methods, is obtained.

Vibrational dynamics of liquids and solids investigated by picosecond light pulses

Starting from the microscopic viewpoint, the dynamics of nuclear induction is derived by means of statistical methods. The only essential lack of generality lies in the assumption that the nuclei in the sample are independent of each other, so that the treatment does not account for features arising from spin-spin interaction. By considering the simultaneous action of an arbitrary external field and of the molecular surroundings upon a representative nucleus a system of linear differential equations of the first order is derived for the "distribution matrix." It is analogous to the classical Boltzmann equation for the distribution function and allows, upon integration, to determine the macroscopic average value of any spin function in its dependence upon time. This general result is particularly applied to the time dependence of the macroscopic nuclear polarization, and the conditions are investigated under which it satisfies the phenomenological differential equation originally proposed by one of the authors (F.B.). Besides the fact that this equation does not describe line structures caused by the interaction of neighboring spins its validity is found to be seriously restricted only for nuclei having a spin larger than unity and in cases where, in addition, quadrupole relaxation is essential. It demands in these cases that the molecular surroundings are isotropic, e.g., as in gaseous and liquid samples, and further, that their characteristic frequencies of interaction with the nuclei are large compared to the Larmor frequency so that there exists equality between the longitudinal and the transverse relaxation time.

The Dynamical Theory of Nuclear Induction

The various shapes of nuclear induction signals are discussed for small values of the r-f field. In the case of a linear variation with time of the strong magnetic field, numerical results are given for various values of the sweep rate and the total relaxation time.

Roald K. Wangsness

Papers

The Dynamical Theory of Nuclear Induction

Shapes of Nuclear Induction Signals

Susceptibility Tensor and the Faraday Effect in Ferrimagnetics

Magnetic Resonance in a System Containing Two Magnetic Sublattices

Effective Parameters in Ferrimagnetic Resonance