Spin injection from Fe3Si into GaAs

We demonstrate room-temperature spin injection from the epitaxially grown ferromagnetic metal Fe3Si into the semiconductor GaAs. The injection efficiency is comparable to values previously obtained for the Fe/GaAs and MnAs/GaAs hybrid systems using the emission of similar (In,Ga)As/GaAs light-emitting diodes for the detection of spin polarization. The temperature dependence of the detected polarization is explained by taking into account spin relaxation inside the semiconductor device. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.