Magnetic Insulator-Induced Proximity Effects in Graphene: Spin Filtering and Exchange Splitting Gaps

Abstract

We report on first-principles calculations of spin-dependent properties in graphene induced by its interaction with a nearby magnetic insulator (Europium oxide, EuO). The magnetic proximity effect results in spin polarization of graphene $\pi$ orbitals by up to 24 %, together with large exchange splitting bandgap of about 36 meV. The position of the Dirac cone is further shown to depend strongly on the graphene-EuO interlayer. These findings point towards the possible engineering of spin gating by proximity effect at relatively high temperature, which stands as a hallmark for future all-spin information processing technologies.