Evidence for Spontaneous Spin-Polarized Transport in Magnetic Nanowires

Abstract

The exploitation of the spin in charge-based systems is opening revolutionary opportunities for device architecture. Surprisingly, room temperature electrical transport through magnetic nanowires is still an unresolved issue. Here, we show that ferromagnetic (Co) suspended atom chains spontaneously display an electron transport of half a conductance quantum, as expected for a fully polarized conduction channel. Similar behavior has been observed for Pd (a quasimagnetic $4d$ metal) and Pt (a nonmagnetic $5d$ metal). These results suggest that the nanowire low dimensionality reinforces or induces magnetic behavior, lifting off spin degeneracy even at room temperature and zero external magnetic field.