Spintronics-Info: the spintronics experts

Spintronics is the new science of computers and memory chips that are based on electron spin rather than (or in addition to) the charge (used in electronics). Spintronics is an exciting field that holds promise to build faster and more efficient computers and devices. Spintronics-Info, established in 2007, is the world's leading spintronics industry portal - offering a popular web publication and newsletter.

Recent Spintronic News

Novel way to manipulate skyrmions could open the door to better memory and sensing devices in next-gen electronics

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, Tiangong University in China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reported an innovative method that advances the understanding of spin dynamics in textured magnets and could facilitate the development of spintronic technologies based on frustrated magnetic systems.

Magnetic skyrmions excited by currents of spin polarized electrons (Illustration) 

The team's approach presents a new way to manipulate and track the motion of tiny magnetic structures known as skyrmions, that has the potential to enable more efficient memory and sensing devices in future electronics.

Read the full story Posted: May 22,2025

Clarifying Bismuth's nature could deepen the understanding of the topological properties of materials with surface relaxation effects

According to scientists from Japan's Kobe University and University of Electro-Communications, there has long been a debate on whether bismuth is part of a class of materials highly suitable for quantum computing and spintronics. The research team has now revealed that the true nature of bismuth was masked by its surface, and in doing so uncovered a new phenomenon relevant to all such materials.

There is a class of materials that are insulators in their bulk, but robustly conductive at their surface. As this conductivity does not suffer from defects or impurities, such “topological materials,” as they are called, are expected to be highly suitable for use in quantum computers, spintronics and other advanced electronic applications. However, whether bismuth is a topological material or not has been under scientific debate for the past almost 20 years, with many calculations showing that it shouldn’t be, but certain measurements indicating differently. Kobe University quantum solid state physicist Fuseya Yuki says: “I have been fascinated by bismuth and have been conducting research with the desire to know everything there is to know about the element. As a bismuth lover, I could not overlook such a situation and delved into the debate, hoping to solve the mystery.”

Read the full story Posted: May 17,2025

Spin-based memory could brings brain-like computing closer to reality

Researchers at National Taiwan University have developed a new type of spintronic device that mimics how synapses work in the brain—offering a path to more energy-efficient and accurate artificial intelligence systems.

In their recent study, the team introduced three novel memory device designs, all controlled purely by electric current and without any need for an external magnetic field. Among the devices, the one based on “tilted anisotropy” stood out. This optimized structure was able to achieve 11 stable memory states with highly consistent switching behavior.

Read the full story Posted: May 15,2025

BESSY II enables new insight into ultrafast spin processes

An international team of researchers has succeeded for the first time to elucidate how ultrafast spin-polarized current pulses can be characterized by measuring the ultrafast demagnetization in a magnetic layer system within the first hundreds of femtoseconds.

The scheme shows (from left to right): Hot electrons generated by a laser in platinum (light blue), the copper (yellow) is used to block the laser pulse so that only the hot electrons propagate and transport a spin current through the magnetic spin valve structure of cobalt platinum (blue-brown) and iron gadolinium (green). Image credit: HZB

The findings could be useful for the development of spintronic devices that enable faster and more energy-efficient information processing and storage. The collaboration involved teams from the University of Strasbourg, HZB, Uppsala University and several other universities.

Read the full story Posted: May 06,2025

Researchers demonstrate the control of spin currents at room temperature by magnon interference in haematite

In 2023, EPFL researchers succeeded in sending and storing data using charge-free magnetic waves called spin waves, rather than traditional electron flows. The team from the Lab of Nanoscale Magnetic Materials and Magnonics, led by Dirk Grundler, used radiofrequency signals to excite spin waves enough to reverse the magnetization state of tiny nanomagnets. When switched from 0 to 1, for example, this allows the nanomagnets to store digital information; a process used in computer memory, and more broadly in information and communication technologies. This work was a big step toward sustainable computing, because encoding data via spin waves (whose quasiparticles are called magnons) could eliminate the energy loss, or Joule heating, associated with electron-based devices. But at the time, the spin wave signals could not be used to reset the magnetic bits to overwrite existing data.

Now, Grundler's lab at EPFL, in collaboration with colleagues from Beihang University, ETH Zurich, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China's International Quantum Academy, have published a study that could make such repeated encoding possible. Specifically, they report unprecedented magnetic behavior in hematite: an iron oxide compound that is earth-abundant and much more environmentally friendly than materials currently used in spintronics.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 26,2025

New integration method could enable high-performance oxide-based spintronic devices on silicon substrates

Researchers from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and South China Normal University have proposed a hybrid transfer and epitaxy strategy, enabling the heterogeneous integration of single-crystal oxide spin Hall materials on silicon substrates for high-performance oxide-based spintronic devices.

Heterogeneous integration of single-crystal SrRuO3 films on silicon for spin-orbit torque devices with low-power consumption. Credit: NIMTE

Single-crystal oxide spin Hall materials are known for their exceptional charge-spin conversion efficiency, making them promising candidates for low-power spintronic devices, particularly spin-orbit torque (SOT) devices. However, integrating these materials with silicon substrates poses significant challenges. To address these challenges, the researchers developed a method that combines transfer technology with epitaxial deposition, successfully integrating oxide spin Hall materials onto silicon substrates. Using this approach, they were able to create single-crystal SrRuO3 (SRO) films on silicon substrates and prepare corresponding SOT devices.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 25,2025

Discovering 1D magnetism inside a metallic crystal could advance spintronics and quantum computing

Researchers from the University of British Columbia, Japan Atomic Energy Agency and Japan's Comprehensive Research Organization for Science and Society have reported a rare form of one-dimensional quantum magnetism in a metallic compound called Ti4MnBi2.

Unlike previous materials that were insulators, this system is metallic and shows strong interaction between magnetism and conduction, hinting at entirely new possibilities in quantum computing and spintronics. The experimental confirmation — supported by neutron scattering and advanced simulations — opens the door to new classes of materials that could redefine how we understand magnetism and electronic behavior at the quantum level.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 22,2025

HZB team designs novel method for the detection of single spins using photovoltage

Diamonds with certain optically active defects can be used as highly sensitive sensors or qubits for quantum computers, where the quantum information is stored in the electron spin state of these colour centres. However, the spin states have to be read out optically, which is often experimentally complex. 

Now, reseatchers at HZB have developed a novel method using a photo voltage to detect the individual and local spin states of these defects. This could lead to a much more compact design of quantum sensors.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 18,2025

TDK announces the world's first "Spin Photo Detector" capable of 10X data transmission speeds

TDK Corporation has announced that it has developed the world's first "Spin Photo Detector," a photo-spintronic conversion element combining optical, electronic, and magnetic elements that can respond at an ultra-high speed of 20 picoseconds (20 × 10⁻¹² s) using light with a wavelength of 800 nm [1] – more than 10X faster than conventional semiconductor-based photo detectors. 

This new device is expected to be a key driver for implementing photoelectric conversion technology that boosts data transmission and data processing speed, particularly in AI applications, while simultaneously reducing power consumption.

Read the full story Posted: Apr 16,2025