Strontium Oxide Tunnel Barriers for High Quality Spin Transport and Large Spin Accumulation in Graphene.

The quality of the tunnel barrier at the ferromagnet/graphene interface plays a pivotal role in graphene spin valves by circumventing the impedance mismatch problem, decreasing interfacial spin dephasing mechanisms and decreasing spin absorption back into the ferromagnet. It is thus crucial to integrate superior tunnel barriers to enhance spin transport and spin accumulation in graphene. Here, we employ a novel tunnel barrier, strontium oxide (SrO), onto graphene to realize high quality spin transport as evidenced by room-temperature spin relaxation times exceeding a nanosecond in graphene on silicon dioxide substrates. Furthermore, the smooth and pinhole-free SrO tunnel barrier grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), which can withstand large charge injection current densities, allows us to experimentally realize large spin accumulation in graphene at room temperature. This work puts graphene on the path to achieve efficient manipulation of nanomagnet magnetization using spin currents in graphene for logic and memory applications.

Vibrational spectroscopic study, charge transfer interaction and nonlinear optical properties of L-asparaginium picrate: a density functional theoretical approach.

Single crystals of L-asparaginium picrate (LASP) were grown by slow evaporation technique at room temperature and were the subject of an X-ray powder diffraction study to confirm the crystalline nature of the synthesized compound. FT-IR and Raman spectra were recorded and analyzed with the aid of the density functional theory (DFT) calculations in order to make a suitable assignment of the observed bands. The optimum molecular geometry, normal mode wavenumbers, infrared and Raman intensities and the first hyperpolarizability were investigated with the help of B3LYP method using 6-31G(d) basis set. The theoretical FT-IR and Raman spectra of LASP were simulated and compared with the experimental data. A good agreement was shown and a reliable vibrational assignment was made. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was carried out to demonstrate the various inter and intramolecular interactions that are responsible for the stabilization of the title compound leading to high NLO activity. A study on the electronic properties was performed by time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) approach. The lowering in the HOMO and LUMO energy gap explains the eventual charge transfer interactions that take place within the molecules.