Review of recent results on spin polarized tunneling and magnetic switching by spin injection

We review recent results obtained at Orsay on two topics in the field of spin electronics: (i) Spin polarized tunneling in magnetic tunnel junctions combining electrodes of ferromagnetic transition metal and half-metallic oxide: we will describe the influence of the nature of the barrier on the sign of the spin polarization of electrons tunneling from the transition metal and we also discuss the temperature dependence of the TMR obtained with half metallic oxides. (ii) Magnetization reversal by spin injection: we will present and interpret experimental results obtained with pillar-shaped Co/Cu/Co trilayers. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.