Non-magnetic organic/inorganic spin injector at room temperature

Spin injection into solid-state devices is commonly performed by use of ferromagnetic metal electrodes. Here, we present a spin injector design without permanent magnet; rather, the spin selectivity is determined by a chiral tunneling barrier. The chiral tunneling barrier is composed of an ultrathin Al₂O₃ layer that is deposited on top of a chiral self-assembled monolayer (SAM), which consists of cysteine or oligopeptide molecules. The experimentally observed magnetoresistance can be up to 20% at room temperature, and it displays an uncommon asymmetric curve as a function of the applied magnetic field. These findings show that the spin injector transmits only one spin orientation, independent of external magnetic field. The sign of the magnetoresistance depends on the handedness of the molecules in the SAM, which act as a spin filter, and the magnitude of the magnetoresistance depends only weakly on temperature.