Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 2/06/2006 |
---|---|
<mark>Journal</mark> | Science |
Issue number | 5778 |
Volume | 312 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Pages (from-to) | 1359-1362 |
Publication Status | Published |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
We present data from an induced gallium arsenide ( GaAs) quantum wire that exhibits an additional conductance plateau at 0.5(2e(2)/h), where e is the charge of an electron and h is Planck's constant, in zero magnetic field. The plateau was most pronounced when the potential landscape was tuned to be symmetric by using low-temperature scanning-probe techniques. Source-drain energy spectroscopy and temperature response support the hypothesis that the origin of the plateau is the spontaneous spin-polarization of the transport electrons: a ferromagnetic phase. Such devices may have applications in the field of spintronics to either generate or detect a spin-polarized current without the complications associated with external magnetic fields or magnetic materials.