Spintronics-Info: the spintronics experts

Researchers from Russia and Japan have shown, theoretically, that it is possible to create a new class of materials: spin-valley half-metals. These kind of devices could enable both spintronics valleytronics applications.

In "regular" half-metals, all the electrons that participate in electric currents have the same spin - and so the current is always spin-polarized. These materials have interesting applications for spintronics devices. In the new class of materials now proven theoretically to be possible, there are two valleys present - one providing electrons, one providing holes.

Researchers from Singapore's A*STAR and NTU developed a tunable room-temperature platform that can be used to control and detect magnetic skyrmions. This platform is actually a thin film made from multi-layer stacks of Ir/Fe/Co/Pt.

In this material, the magnetic interactions governing skyrmion properties can be controlled by varying the ferromagnetic layer composition. The skyrmions exhibit a smooth crossover between isolated (metastable) and disordered lattice configurations across samples, while their size and density can be tuned by factors of two and ten, respectively.

Reserachers from Spain's CIC nanoGUNE and IKERBASQUE discovered that you can use organic solar panels to created spin-current. The researchers used cobalt and nickel-iron magnetic electrodes to create spin-polarized current from a solar panel made from C60 fullerenes.

The researchers created the device by evaporating the metal and the C60 fullerenes onto a substrate, replacing the usual indium tin oxide and aluminium electrodes.

The partners in the EU-funded SPIN-PORICS (Merging Nanoporous Materials with Energy-Efficient Spintronics) announced the first prototypes of nanoporous magnetic memories, based on copper and nickel alloys (CuNi).

The project team reported being able to achieve a 35% reduction of magnetic coercivity compared to current devices, which meets the energy consumption required to reorientate the magnetic domains which is necessary for data recording. This result is due to the nanoporous design which enables the whole film - not only the surface - to participate in the electromagnetic effect.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory were able to theoretically calculate the mechanism by which the electronic band structure of graphene could be modified with metal atoms.

The researcher can now study the effect of added metal atoms intercalated between graphene and its silicon carbide substrate. Since these atoms are magnetic, they can also make graphene useful for spintronics applications.

RWTH Aachen University and Germany-based AMO launched a new joint research center with a focus on the science and applications of graphene and related 2D materials. The new center has five founding principal investigators, all members of the $1 billion Graphene Flagship project.

The new center will addressing the challenges of future technology including high-frequency electronics, flexible electronics, energy-efficient sensing, photonics as well as valleytronics and spintronics.

Researchers from the University of Groningen developed a device made by 2D sheets of graphene and Boron-Nitride that showed unprecedented spin transport efficiency at room temperature.

The research, funded by the European Union's $1 billion Graphene Flagship, uses the single-layer graphene as the core material. The researchers say that graphene is a great material for spin transport - but the spin in the graphene cannot be manipulated. To over come this In this device, the graphene is sandwiched between two layers of Boron Nitride and the whole structure rests on silicon.