Spin injection into ferromagnetic Co2MnAl by optical absorption in GaAs

Spin-oriented electrons were injected into ferromagnetic Co2MnAl by optical absorption in GaAs. Schottky diode heterostructures were fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy growth of the Heusler ferromagnet Co2MnAl epitaxially on GaAs. The GaAs was illuminated near the bandgap at room temperature by circularly polarized light with 1.45 eV. Spin-polarized photocurrent was observed for forward biased conditions. A barrier height of 0.6 eV was found from I-V and photoemission experiments. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.