Université de Fribourg

Importance of spin-orbit interaction for the electron spin relaxation in organic semiconductors

Nuccio, L. ; Willis, M. ; Schulz, Leander ; Fratini, S. ; Messina, F. ; D’Amico, M. ; Pratt, F. L. ; Lord, J. S. ; McKenzie, I. ; Loth, M. ; Purushothaman, B. ; Anthony, J. ; Heeney, M. ; Wilson, R. M. ; Hernández, I. ; Cannas, M. ; Sedlak, K. ; Kreouzis, T. ; Gillin, W. P. ; Bernhard, Christian ; Drew, Alan J.

In: Physical Review Letters, 2013, vol. 110, no. 21, p. 216602

Despite the great interest organic spintronics has recently attracted, there is only a partial understanding of the fundamental physics behind electron spin relaxation in organic semiconductors. Mechanisms based on hyperfine interaction have been demonstrated, but the role of the spin-orbit interaction remains elusive. Here, we report muon spin spectroscopy and time-resolved photoluminescence...

Université de Fribourg

Importance of intramolecular electron spin relaxation in small molecule semiconductors

Schulz, Leander ; Willis, M. ; Nuccio, L. ; Shusharov, P. ; Fratini, S. ; Pratt, F. L. ; Gillin, W. P. ; Kreouzis, T. ; Heeney, M. ; Stingelin, N. ; Stafford, C. A. ; Beesley, D. J. ; Bernhard, Christian ; Anthony, J. E. ; McKenzie, I. ; Lord, J. S. ; Drew, Alan J.

In: Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 2011, vol. 84, no. 8, p. 085209

Electron spin relaxation rate (eSR) is investigated on several organic semiconductors of different morphologies and molecular structures, using avoided level crossing muon spectroscopy as a local spin probe. We find that two functionalized acenes (polycrystalline tri(isopropyl)silyl-pentacene and amorphous 5,6,11,12- tetraphenyltetracene) exhibit eSRs with an Arrhenius-like temperature...

Université de Fribourg

Engineering spin propagation across a hybrid organic/inorganic interface using a polar layer

Schulz, Leander ; Nuccio, L. ; Willis, M. ; Desai, P. ; Shakya, P. ; Kreouzis, T. ; Malik, Vivek Kumar ; Bernhard, Christian ; Pratt, F. L. ; Morley, N. A. ; Suter, A. ; Nieuwenhuys, G. J. ; Prokscha, T. ; Morenzoni, E. ; Gillin, W. P. ; Drew, Alan J.

In: Nature Materials, 2011, vol. 10, p. 39–44

Spintronics has shown a remarkable and rapid development, for example from the initial discovery of giant magnetoresistance in spin valves (Baibich, M. N. et al. Giant magnetoresistance of (001)Fe/(001)Cr magnetic superlattices. Phys. Rev. Lett. 61, 2472–2475, 1988) to their ubiquity in hard-disk read heads in a relatively short time. However, the ability to fully harness electron spin as...