Position in France

Laboratoire PMC, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
Contact : Jacques Peretti phone : 33 (0)1 40 23 95 68
e-mail : jacques.peretti@polytechnique.edu

Subject: Spin-polarized electron photoemission from silicon

The physics of spin in solids is the subject of many challenging issues, in the framework of spintronics and quantum computing, which concerns both fundamental science and technological applications. The most of papers on the subject concern the spin effects in III-V compounds. However As such, conduction electrons in silicon might be considered an ideal system in which to study the physics of spin since this is the material of choice in microelectronics.
Very recently, we have obtained spectacular results on the spin-polarized photoemission from bulk silicon photocathodes: spin polarization up to 13% close to the theoretical value for Pi = 1/6 has been measured for hot-electrons excited with a photon energy of 3.33eV. These preliminary results validate our approach and are a strong indicator for the final success of the project.
The PHD student will develop these experiments and will expand the study to the spin transport measurements in silicon.. All necessary equipment is already in place in laboratory, which has a strong experience in all type of spin measurements techniques.