Quantum size effect and temperature effect on spin-polarized transport in ZnSe/Zn1-xMnxSe multilayers

We present tight-binding Green's function investigations of the influence of quantum sizes and the temperature on spin tunneling transport through a tunable ZnSe/Zn1-xMnxSe multilayers under an external electric field. It is found that the degree of polarization can be significantly induced by the size of the corresponding structure. As the size of the multilayers is increasing, both the transmission spectra and the current density spectra become more complicated and the degree of spin polarization is higher. It is also found that the degree of the spin polarization is drastically reduced as the temperature is increasing. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.