Large magnetoresistance in nonmagnetic π-conjugated semiconductor thin film devices

Following the recent observation of large magnetoresistance at room temperature in polyfluorene sandwich devices, we have performed a comprehensive magnetoresistance study on a set of organic semiconductor sandwich devices made from different π-conjugated polymers and small molecules. The study includes a range of materials that show greatly different chemical structure, mobility, and spin-orbit coupling strength. We study both hole and electron transporters at temperatures ranging from 10 K to 300 K. We observe large negative or positive magnetoresistance (up to 10% at 300 K and 10 mT) depending on material and device operating conditions. We discuss our results in the framework of known magnetoresistance mechanisms and find that none of the existing models can explain our results.