Suchergebnisse

Spin filtering at organic-metal interfaces is often determined by the details of the interaction between the organic molecules and the inorganic magnets used as electrodes. Here we demonstrate a spin-filtering mechanism based on the dynamical spin relaxation of the long-living interface states formed by the magnet and weakly physisorbed molecules. We investigate the case of Alq3 on Co and, by combining two-photon photoemission experiments with electronic structure theory, show that the observed long-time spin-dependent electron dynamics is driven by molecules in the second organic layer. The interface states formed by physisorbed molecules are not spin-split, but acquire a spin-dependent lifetime, that is the result of dynamical spin-relaxation driven by the interaction with the Co substrate. Such spin-filtering mechanism has an important role in the injection of spin-polarized carriers across the interface and their successive hopping diffusion into successive molecular layers of molecular spintronics devices. ; The experimental work carried out at the University of Kaiserslautern was partly funded by the SFB/TRR 173 Spin+X: spin in its collective environment (Project B05) from the DFG. A.D. and I.R. were sponsored by the European Union through the FP7 project 618082 ACMOL. S.S. acknowledges the European Research Council, Quest project, for financial support. P.T. and B.S. thankfully acknowledge financial support from the Graduate School of Excellence MAINZ (Excellence Initiative DFG/GSC 266). ; Peer reviewed