スピン依存STMの開発と現状

概要

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Several kinds of technique have been proposed for imaging surface magnetic structures, using the basic experimental concept of scanning probe microscopy(SPM). Magnetic force microscopy is the most commonly used type of SPM for magnetic imaging;however, its spatial resolution is limited to about 10 nm. To overcome this limitation, spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM) has been studied for about 10 years. A tunneling current flowing between a magnetic sample surface and a spin-sensitive probe is spin-oilarized. Spin-sensitive STM measurement of the spin-polarization makes it possible to visualize tha distribution of spin-polarization of surface electron states. Since STM has atomic resolution, SP-STM is expected to make it possible to visualize the surface spin-polarization of a surface magnetic structure on an atomic scale. This review introduces experimental ideas for extracting spin-dependent components from the tunneling current, which have been proposed by many groups. The recent rapid progress in the development of SP-STM is also summarized.
2000-12-01