Conductivity in organic semiconductors hybridized with the vacuum field.

Much effort over the past decades has been focused on improving carrier mobility in organic thin-film transistors by optimizing the organization of the material or the device architecture. Here we take a different path to solving this problem, by injecting carriers into states that are hybridized to the vacuum electromagnetic field. To test this idea, organic semiconductors were strongly coupled to plasmonic modes to form coherent states that can extend over as many as 10(5) molecules and should thereby favour conductivity. Experiments show that indeed the current does increase by an order of magnitude at resonance in the coupled state, reflecting mostly a change in field-effect mobility. A theoretical quantum model confirms the delocalization of the wavefunctions of the hybridized states and its effect on the conductivity. Our findings illustrate the potential of engineering the vacuum electromagnetic environment to modify and to improve properties of materials.

Optical Writing of Magnetic Properties by Remanent Photostriction.

We present an optically induced remanent photostriction in BiFeO_{3}, resulting from the photovoltaic effect, which is used to modify the ferromagnetism of Ni film in a hybrid BiFeO_{3}/Ni structure. The 75% change in coercivity in the Ni film is achieved via optical and nonvolatile control. This photoferromagnetic effect can be reversed by static or ac electric depolarization of BiFeO_{3}. Hence, the strain dependent changes in magnetic properties are written optically, and erased electrically. Light-mediated straintronics is therefore a possible approach for low-power multistate control of magnetic elements relevant for memory and spintronic applications.

On the photovoltaic effect asymmetry in ferroelectrics.

Despite symmetrical polarization, the magnitude of a light-induced voltage is known to be asymmetric with respect to poling sign in many photovoltaic (PV) ferroelectrics (FEs). This asymmetry remains unclear and is often attributed to extrinsic effects. We show here for the first time that such an asymmetry can be intrinsic, steaming from the superposition of asymmetries of internal FE bias and electro-piezo-strictive deformation. This hypothesis is confirmed by the observed decrease of PV asymmetry for smaller FE bias. Moreover, the both PV effect and remanent polarization are found to increase under vacuum-induced expansion and to decrease for gas-induced compression, with tens percents tunability. The change in cations positions under pressure is analysed through the first-principle density functional theory calculations. The reported properties provide key insight for FE-based solar elements optimization.

Heteronanojunctions with atomic size control using a lab-on-chip electrochemical approach with integrated microfluidics.

A versatile tool for electrochemical fabrication of heteronanojunctions with nanocontacts made of a few atoms and nanogaps of molecular spacing is presented. By integrating microfluidic circuitry in a lab-on-chip approach, we keep control of the electrochemical environment in the vicinity of the nanojunction and add new versatility for exchanging and controlling the junction's medium. Nanocontacts made of various materials by successive local controlled depositions are demonstrated, with electrical properties revealing sizes reaching a few atoms only. Investigations on benchmark molecular electronics material, trapped between electrodes, reveal the possibility to create nanogaps of size matching those of molecules. We illustrate the interest of a microfluidic approach by showing that exposure of a fabricated molecular junction to controlled high solvent flows can be used as a reliability criterion for the presence of molecular entities in a gap.

Nanotrench for nano and microparticle electrical interconnects.

We present a simple and versatile patterning procedure for the reliable and reproducible fabrication of high aspect ratio (10(4)) electrical interconnects that have separation distances down to 20 nm and lengths of several hundreds of microns. The process uses standard optical lithography techniques and allows parallel processing of many junctions, making it easily scalable and industrially relevant. We demonstrate the suitability of these nanotrenches as electrical interconnects for addressing micro and nanoparticles by realizing several circuits with integrated species. Furthermore, low impedance metal-metal low contacts are shown to be obtained when trapping a single metal-coated microsphere in the gap, emphasizing the intrinsic good electrical conductivity of the interconnects, even though a wet process is used. Highly resistive magnetite-based nanoparticles networks also demonstrate the advantage of the high aspect ratio of the nanotrenches for providing access to electrical properties of highly resistive materials, with leakage current levels below 1 pA.

High conductivity organic thin films for spintronics: the interface resistance bottleneck.

Highly electrochemically doped poly(2,5-bis(3-dodecyl-2-yl)-thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (pBTTT) thin films exhibiting remarkably high conductivities values reaching 3000-5000 Ω(-1) cm(-1) are investigated. Experimental evidence of delocalized transport properties of this material at the onset of metallicity makes it an ideal candidate for spin valve device integration. Nevertheless, the interface resistance between the polymer and metallic electrodes is orders of magnitudes larger than the expected spin resistance of the active channel. This prevents the collection of a spin current. This finding can explain the lack of success in making lateral organic spin valves reported in the literature, especially the related absence of spin signals in non-local spin valve and Hanle current measurements in organic thin films.

Multistate nonvolatile straintronics controlled by a lateral electric field.

We present a multifunctional and multistate permanent memory device based on lateral electric field control of a strained surface. Sub-coercive electrical writing of a remnant strain of a PZT substrate imprints stable and rewritable resistance changes on a CoFe overlayer. A proof-of-principle device, with the simplest resistance strain gage design, is shown as a memory cell exhibiting 17-memory states of high reproducibility and reliability for nonvolatile operations. Magnetoresistance of the film also depends on the cell state, and indicates a rewritable change of magnetic properties persisting in the remnant strain of the substrate. This makes it possible to combine strain, magnetic and resistive functionalities in a single memory element, and suggests that sub-coercive stress studies are of interest for straintronics applications.

Size-induced enhanced magnetoelectric effect and multiferroicity in chromium oxide nanoclusters.

The control of the magnetization of a material with an electric field would make the design and the integration of novel electronic devices possible. This explains the renewed interest in multiferroic materials. Progress in this field is currently hampered by the scarcity of the materials available and the smallness of the magnetoelectric effects. Here we present a proof-of-principle experiment showing that engineering large strains through nanoscale size reduction is an efficient route for increasing magnetoelectric coefficients by orders of magnitude. The archetype magnetoelectric material, Cr2O3, in the form of epitaxial clusters, exhibits an unprecedented 600% change in magnetization magnitude under 1 V. Furthermore, a multiferroic phase, with both magnetic and electric spontaneous polarizations, is found in the clusters, while absent in the bulk.

Voltage-induced switching with magnetoresistance signature in magnetic nano-filaments.

Large hysteretic resistance changes are reported on sub-100 nm diameter metallic nanowires including thin dielectric junctions. Bi-stable 50% switching in a double junction geometry is modeled in terms of an occupation-driven metal-insulator transition in one of the two junctions, using the generalized Poisson expressions of Oka and Nagaosa (2005 Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 266403). It illustrates how a band bending scheme can be generalized for strongly correlated electron systems. The magnetic constituents of the nanowires provide a magnetoresistive signature of the two resistance states, confirming our model and enabling a four states device application.

Resonant inversion of tunneling magnetoresistance.

Resonant tunneling via localized states in the barrier can invert magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions. Experiments performed on electrodeposited Ni/NiO/Co nanojunctions of area smaller than 0.01 microm(2) show that both positive and negative values of magnetoresistance are possible. Calculations based on Landauer-Büttiker theory explain this behavior in terms of disorder-driven statistical variations in magnetoresistance with a finite probability of inversion due to resonant tunneling.