Narrow Results

The spin-dependent transport properties of Cu/EuO-based tunnel junctions are investigated by means of the first-principle calculations combined with the non-equilibrium Green’s function (NEGF) method. It is found that the Cu/EuO-based junctions exhibit excellent spin-filtering effect. Furthermore, the mixed Cu/O layer enhances the tunneling of the majority spin through the EuO barrier for the junctions with Cu/O layers due to the fact that the valance-band maximum of the Eu-4$f$ states shifts to high energies with respect to the Fermi level for these junctions. These results permit the existence of the mixed Cu/O layer in Cu/EuO-based tunnel junctions and promote future applications of these tunnel junctions in spintronic devices.