We show electric field control of the spin accumulation at the interface of the oxide semiconductor Nb-SrTiO3 with Co/AlOx spin injection contacts at room temperature. The in-plane spin lifetime τ∥ as well as the ratio of the out-of-plane to in-plane spin lifetime τ⊥/τ∥ is manipulated by the built-in electric field at the semiconductor surface, without any additional gate contact. The origin of this manipulation is attributed to Rashba Spin-Orbit Fields (SOFs) at the Nb-SrTiO3 surface and shown to be consistent with theoretical model calculations based on SOF spin flip scattering. Additionally, the junction can be set in a high or low resistance state, leading to a non-volatile control of τ⊥/τ∥, consistent with the manipulation of the Rashba SOF strength. Such room temperature electric field control over the spin state is essential for developing energy-efficient spintronic devices and shows promise for complex oxide based (spin)electronics
@article{arxiv.1508.04649,
title = {Electric field control of spin lifetimes in Nb-SrTiO$_3$ by spin-orbit fields},
author = {A. M. Kamerbeek and P. Högl and J. Fabian and T. Banerjee},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.04649},
year = {2015}
}