One of the most fascinating puzzles for the graphene and spintronics communities is identifying the main microscopic process for spin relaxation in graphene. Conventional relaxation mechanisms have yielded contradictory results when applied to single-layer graphene. In an article published today in Nature Communications, researchers from the Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2) determine the spin lifetime anisotropy of spin-polarized carriers in graphene, which is expected to generate valuable information to overcome the above puzzle.
The present work demonstrates spin-lifetime anisotropy measurements in graphene and discusses them in light of current theoretical knowledge.
We develop novel nanodevices to gain insight into the physical properties of materials at the nanoscale, from metals to graphene, to topological insulators