Spin transport with traps: dramatic narrowing of the Hanle curve

R. C. Roundy, M. E. Raikh

Published 2014-09-02Version 1

We study theoretically the spin transport in a device in which the active layer is an organic film with numerous deep in-gap levels serving as traps. A carrier, diffusing between magnetized injector and detector, spends a considerable portion of time on the traps. This new feature of transport does not affect the giant magnetoresistance, which is sensitive only to the mutual orientation of magnetizations of the injector and detector. By contrast, the presence of traps strongly affects the sensitivity of the spin transport to external magnetic field perpendicular to the magnetizations of the electrodes (the Hanle effect). Namely, the Hanle curve narrows dramatically. The origin of such a narrowing is that the spin precession takes place during the entire time of the carrier motion between the electrodes, while the spin relaxation takes place only during diffusive motion between the subsequent traps. If the resulting width of the Hanle curve is smaller than the measurement resolution, observation of the Hanle peak becomes impossible.