We have measured the transport spin polarization of epitaxial thin films of the conductive ferromagnetic oxide, SrRuO3, using point contact Andreev reflection spectroscopy. In spite of the fact that spin-up and spin-down electronic densities of states at the Fermi level for SrRuO3 calculated from band structure theory are practically the same, the experimental transport spin polarization for these films was found to be about 50%. This is a direct consequence of the Fermi velocity disparity between the majority and minority bands. The experimental results are compared with our theoretical estimates of the spin polarization in the ballistic and diffusive limits.

1.
C. B.
Eom
,
R. B.
van Dover
,
J. M.
Phillips
,
D. J.
Werder
,
J. H.
Marshall
,
C. H.
Chen
,
R. J.
Cava
,
R. M.
Fleming
, and
D. K.
Fork
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
63
,
2570
(
1993
).
2.
G. A.
Prinz
,
Phys. Today
48
,
58
(
1995
);
G. A.
Prinz
,
Science
282
,
1660
(
1998
).
3.
S. A.
Wolf
,
D. D.
Awschalom
,
R. A.
Buhrman
,
J. M.
Daughton
,
S.
von Molnar
,
M. L.
Roukes
,
A. Y.
Chtchelkanova
, and
D. M.
Treger
,
Science
294
,
1488
(
2001
).
4.
D. C.
Worledge
and
T. H.
Geballe
,
Phys. Rev. Lett.
85
,
5182
(
2000
).
5.
C. B.
Eom
,
R. J.
Cava
,
R. M.
Fleming
,
J. M.
Phillips
,
R. B.
van Dover
,
J. H.
Marshall
,
J. W. P.
Hsu
,
J. J.
Krejewski
, and
W. F.
Peck
, Jr.
,
Science
258
,
1766
(
1992
).
6.
Q.
Gan
,
R. A.
Rao
,
C. B.
Eom
,
J. L.
Garrett
, and
M.
Lee
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
72
,
978
(
1998
).
7.
M.
Julliere
,
Phys. Lett.
54B
,
225
(
1975
).
8.
D. J.
Singh
,
J. Appl. Phys.
79
,
4818
(
1996
).
9.
I. I.
Mazin
and
D. J.
Singh
,
Phys. Rev. B
56
,
2556
(
1997
).
10.
P. M.
Tedrow
and
R.
Meservey
,
Phys. Rep.
238
,
173
(
1994
), and references therein.
11.
R. J.
Soulen
, Jr.
,
J. M.
Byers
,
M. S.
Osofsky
,
B.
Nadgorny
,
T.
Ambrose
,
S. F.
Cheng
,
P. R.
Broussard
,
C. T.
Tanaka
,
J.
Nowak
,
J. S.
Moodera
,
A.
Barry
, and
J. M. D.
Coey
,
Science
282
,
85
(
1998
).
12.
S. K.
Upadhyay
,
A.
Palanisami
,
R. N.
Louie
, and
R. A.
Buhrman
,
Phys. Rev. Lett.
81
,
3247
(
1998
).
13.
A. F.
Andreev
,
Sov. Phys. JETP
19
,
1228
(
1964
).
14.
M. J. M.
de Jong
and
C. W. J.
Beenakker
,
Phys. Rev. Lett.
74
,
1657
(
1995
).
15.
B.
Nadgorny
,
R. J.
Soulen
, Jr.
,
M. S.
Osofsky
,
I. I.
Mazin
,
G.
Laprade
,
R. J. M.
van de Veerdonk
,
A. A.
Smits
,
S. F.
Cheng
,
E. F.
Skelton
, and
S. B.
Qadri
,
Phys. Rev. B
61
,
R3788
(
2000
).
16.
Y.
Ji Y
,
G. J.
Strijkers
,
F. Y.
Yang
,
C. L.
Chien
,
J. M.
Byers
,
A.
Anguelouch
,
G.
Xiao
, and
A.
Gupta
,
Phys. Rev. Lett.
86
,
5585
(
2001
).
17.
J. S.
Parker
,
S. M.
Watts
,
P. G.
Ivanov
,
P.
Xiong
,
Phys. Rev. Lett.
88
,
196601
(
2002
).
18.
B.
Nadgorny
,
I. I.
Mazin
,
M. S.
Osofsky
,
R. J.
Soulen
, Jr.
,
P.
Broussard
,
R. M.
Stroud
,
D. J.
Singh
,
V. G.
Harris
,
A.
Arsenov
, and
Ya.
Mukovsky
,
Phys. Rev. B
63
,
184433
(
2001
).
19.
C. B.
Eom
,
J. Z.
Sun
,
K.
Yamamoto
,
A. F.
Marshal
,
K. E.
Luther
,
T. H.
Geballe
, and
S. S.
Laderman
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
55
,
595
(
1989
).
20.
As seen from scanning tunneling microscopy studies [
Q.
Gan
,
R. A.
Rao
, and
C. B.
Eom
,
Appl. Phys. Lett.
70
,
1962
(
1997
)].
21.
G.
Wexler
,
Proc. Phys. Soc. London
89
,
927
(
1966
);
B.
Nikolić
and
P. B.
Allen
,
Phys. Rev. B
60
,
3963
(
1999
)].
22.
I. I.
Mazin
,
A. A.
Golubov
, and
B.
Nadgorny
,
J. Appl. Phys.
89
,
7576
(
2001
).
23.
G. E.
Blonder
,
M.
Tinkham
, and
T. M.
Klapwijk
,
Phys. Rev. B
25
,
4515
(
1982
).
24.
The fitting least square routine used in the analysis varies two parameters, P and the strength of the BTK delta-function, Z.
25.
D. J. Singh, Planewaves, Pseudopotentials and the LAPW Method (Kluwer, Boston, 1994).
26.
C. W.
Jones
,
P. D.
Battle
,
P.
Lightfoot
, and
W. T. A.
Harrison
,
Acta Crystallogr., Sect. C: Cryst. Struct. Commun.
45
,
365
(
1989
).
27.
In particular, the lattice parameters of that cell are 5.5304, 7.8446, and 5.5670 Å, so the c axis is 0.7% longer than the a axis. Based on this, one might suppose that one effect of growing on a substrate with a slightly smaller lattice parameter is then to produce 〈110〉 (referenced to the cubic perovskite) textured films with the growth direction aligned with the long c axis and the a (also a 〈110〉 cubic perovskite derived direction) and b axes in the plane of the film. This texturing could then account by itself for somewhat less than half of the observed strain.
28.
The negative sign of P is consistent with the fact that the minority-spin Fermi velocity is higher than the majority.
29.
W. H.
Butler
,
X.-G.
Zhang
,
T. C.
Schulthess
, and
J. M.
MacLaren
,
Phys. Rev. B
63
,
092402
(
2001
);
I. I.
Mazin
,
Europhys. Lett.
55
,
404
(
2001
).
30.
Another group using the PCAR technique has recently obtained very similar results for SrRuO3 films [A. P. Mackenzie (private communication)].
This content is only available via PDF.
You do not currently have access to this content.