Electric-field control of tunneling magnetoresistance effect in a Ni/InAs/Ni quantum-dot spin valve

The authors demonstrate an electric-field control of tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) effect in a semiconductor quantum-dot spin-valve device. By using ferromagnetic Ni nanogap electrodes, they observe the Coulomb blockade oscillations at a small bias voltage. In the vicinity of the Coulomb blockade peak, the TMR effect is significantly modulated and even its sign is switched by changing the gate voltage, where the sign of the TMR value changes at the resonant condition. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.