Dr. Tamara Nunner

Institut für Theoretische Physik Freie Universität Berlin Arnimallee 14 14195 Berlin

Tel: (030) 838-53797 Fax: (030) 838-56799 Email: nunner@physik.fu-berlin.de

Prof. Dr. Felix v. Oppen

Institut für Theoretische Physik Freie Universität Berlin Arnimallee 14 14195 Berlin

Tel: (030) 838-53036 Fax: (030) 838-56799 Email: vonoppen@physik.fu-berlin.de

Spin transport and relaxation

Spin transport over relevant distances poses one of the major challenges in the field of spintronics. The underlying reason is that unlike charge currents, spin currents are not conserved. It is therefore of crucial importance to understand their decay mechanisms. In this respect, the effects of spin-orbit interaction have been rather well studied. By contrast, much less attention has been paid to the effects of electronelectron interaction and magnetic scattering. Electron-electron interactions can lead to decay of spin currents by transferring momentum between the two spin species. This phenomenon, referred to as spin Coulomb drag, has recently been observed experimentally for the first time. We propose to set up a theory for the spin Coulomb drag in materials with bulk spinorbit interaction, we will investigate spin Coulomb drag in the presence of spin-flip scattering, and we intend to study how spin Coulomb drag affects both the spin Hall and the anomalous Hall effects. Magnetic scattering has been found to promote spin transport in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction. We propose to investigate the effects of spin-flip scattering and spin-dependent scattering on spin-polarized transport in systems where magnetic impurities are constitutive such as the magnetic two-dimensional electron gas and diluted magnetic semiconductors.