Theoretical perspectives on spintronics and spin-polarized transport

Selected problems of fundamental importance for spintronics and spin-polarized transport are reviewed, some of them with a special emphasis on their applications in quantum computing and coherent control of quantum dynamics. The role of the solid-state environment in the decoherence of electron spins is discussed. In particular, the limiting effect of the spin-orbit interaction on spin relaxation of conduction electrons is carefully examined in the light of recent theoretical and experimental progress. Most of the proposed spintronic devices involve spin-polarized transport across interfaces in various hybrid structures. The specific example discussed here, of a magnetic semiconductor/superconductor interface, displays many intricacies which a complex spin-dependent interface introduces in the spin-polarized transport. It is proposed that pairs of entangled electrons in a superconductor (Cooper pairs) can be transferred to a nonsuperconducting region, and consequently separated for a transport study of the spin entanglement. Several important theoretical proposals for quantum computing are based on electronic and nuclear spin entanglement in a solid. Physical requirements for these proposals to be useful are discussed and some alternative views are presented. Finally, a recent discovery of optical control of nuclear spins in semiconductors is reviewed and placed in the context of a long-standing search for electronic control of nuclear dynamics.