Józsa C, Popinciuc M, Tombros N, Jonkman H T, van Wees B J
Physics of Nanodevices, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Jun 13;100(23):236603. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.236603.
We studied the drift of electron spins under an applied dc electric field in single layer graphene spin valves in a field-effect transport geometry at room temperature. In the metallic conduction regime (n approximately 3.5 x 10(16) m(-2)), for dc fields of about +/- 70 kV/m applied between the spin injector and spin detector, the spin valve signals are increased or decreased, depending on the direction of the dc field and the carrier type, by as much as +/- 50%. Sign reversal of the drift effect is observed when switching from hole to electron conduction. In the vicinity of the Dirac neutrality point the drift effect is strongly suppressed. The experiments are in quantitative agreement with a drift-diffusion model of spin transport.
