Spin-Dependent Electronic Transport in Fe/MnAs/Fe Structures

We have performed first-principles calculations of electronic structures and tunneling magnetoresistance of Fe/MnAs/Fe structures, which are junctions of two semi-infinite metals and a half-metal placed between them. The electronic structures are described by the Kohn-Sham density functional theory, with local spin density approximation, norm-conserving semicore pseudopotentials, and pseudo-atomic orbital basis set. The tunneling magnetoresistance is obtained by using a scattering- state method, considering different configurations of the magnetization. This work was supported by the KRF (KRF-2007-314- C00075) and by the KOSEF Grant No. R01-2007-000-20922-0. Computational resources have been provided by KISTI Supercomputing Center (KSC-2008-S02-0004).