Recent Spintronic News - Page 2

Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Hubei University have developed a spin-orbit torque (SOT)-based key generation system that unifies cryptographic key generation, concealment, and attack detection within a single spintronic device platform. By combining physically unclonable function (PUF) behavior with true random number generator (TRNG) functionality, the approach introduces a hardware-rooted security primitive in which key access is intrinsically tied to irreversible physical transformations.

At the core of the system are Ta/CoFeB/MgO/Ta spintronic Hall devices, which simultaneously host two complementary entropy sources. Dynamic entropy arises from stochastic magnetization switching under zero-field conditions, enabling true random number generation. In parallel, static entropy originates from device-to-device variations in the critical switching current caused by fabrication process deviations, allowing the extraction of unique and reproducible cryptographic keys. By applying different excitation conditions, the same physical device can switch between these two modes, generating either random numbers or device-specific keys on demand.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore, University of Manchester and National Institute for Materials Science have shown that magnetic proximity can be used to electrically control large spin signals in graphene superlattices, achieving spin polarizations approaching 50% and nonlocal spin resistances above 300 Ω near charge neutrality. 

By placing graphene in close proximity to a magnetic material, they induce a magnetic proximity effect that spin-splits graphene’s bands via interfacial exchange coupling, without permanently magnetizing the carbon lattice or degrading its intrinsic transport properties. In their devices, cobalt contacts are used to generate this exchange field, while pure spin currents are injected and detected nonlocally, allowing the team to map how spin transport responds as the Fermi level is tuned across different charge density regimes.

Researchers from Cornell University, together with collaborators from Columbia University and the University of Delaware, have demonstrated excitonic spin torque in the 2D magnetic semiconductor CrSBr. The work shows that excitons generated by light can directly drive and control magnetization dynamics, rather than only probing them, and establishes a new optical pathway to manipulate spins in magnetic semiconductors.

In the study, the team used ultrafast pump-probe measurements on the van der Waals antiferromagnet CrSBr. A short laser pulse creates a reservoir of tightly bound excitons in the material, and this exciton population exerts a spin torque on the underlying antiferromagnetic order. The torque has both damping-like and anti-damping-like components and drives the spins along a non-trivial trajectory on the magnetic energy landscape.

Researchers from Tohoku University and NIST have demonstrated a CMOS-integrated spintronic probabilistic bit (p-bit), marking a significant step toward scalable probabilistic computing hardware. The work experimentally validates a key building block for p-computers by combining superparamagnetic tunnel junctions (sMTJs) with a standard 130 nm CMOS process, enabling stochastic operation directly on a silicon chip.

(a) Photograph of test chips fabricated on a silicon substrate using semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing processes. (b) Schematic cross-sectional structure of the spintronic p-bit. Transistors and lower interconnect layers were fabricated at SkyWater Technology, followed by fabrication of the spintronic devices at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University. (c,d) Cross-sectional and plan-view electron microscope images of the spintronic device designed to exhibit stochastic fluctuations. Image from: Tohoku University website

Probabilistic computing targets problems that require efficient exploration of vast solution spaces, such as combinatorial optimization and machine learning. Unlike conventional binary systems, which process deterministic 0 or 1 states, p-bits fluctuate continuously between these states. This stochastic behavior allows p-computers to sample many configurations in parallel, making them well suited for complex optimization tasks.

Quantum Design International has acquired Qnami, a Swiss company specializing in diamond-based quantum sensing and scanning probe microscopy technologies. The deal is aimed at expanding Quantum Design’s portfolio for quantum materials, nanomagnetism, spintronics, semiconductors, and advanced device characterization.

Qnami develops nitrogen-vacancy (NV) diamond-based scanning probe systems and components that enable nanoscale magnetic imaging and precision field sensing, tools that are increasingly used in spintronics and quantum materials research. According to the companies, the combined organization will focus on advancing Qnami’s existing SPM platforms and quantum sensing components while exploring new opportunities in academic labs, national facilities, and industrial R&D.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) have discovered hematite, essentially rust, can help design energy-efficient spintronics.

The team’s findings confirmed a key signature of altermagnetism (a new type of magnetism discovered in 2022) in hematite. Altermagnets are magnetic materials in which electron spins align in opposite directions, allowing pure spin currents to flow without a net electric charge - ideal conditions for spintronics. The team measured spin waves, which move through a material's magnetic order similar to how sound waves move through air. They discovered that these waves show a clear separation in energy, a unique signature that confirms the material's altermagnetic nature.

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities, in collaboration with Polar Semiconductor and Honeywell Aerospace, is establishing a first-of-its-kind academic-industry Spin Technology Center to advance the state’s growing microelectronics and semiconductor industry. The $5.7 million project has been awarded $2.83 million from the Minnesota Forward Fund administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, with an additional $2.8 million in matching funding from industry partners Polar Semiconductor and Honeywell Aerospace.

The new center will develop quantum spintronic devices focusing on high-tech magnetic sensors and advanced memory storage. These devices are being adapted for cutting-edge applications, including biomedical devices, industrial automation, automotive applications and specialized technologies designed for extreme environments like space.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo, RIKEN and Tokyo Metropolitan University have demonstrated an ultrafast, energy-efficient nonvolatile switching device based on antiferromagnetic Mn₃Sn, achieving reliable operation in the picosecond regime with dramatically reduced power consumption.

The device is built on Mn₃Sn/tantalum heterostructures and utilizes spin–orbit torque (SOT) to switch the magnetic state using electrical pulses as short as 40 picoseconds. This represents a roughly 1,000× speed improvement over conventional nanosecond-scale switching, which has long been a practical limit in current CPU and GPU technologies due to rapidly increasing energy demands at higher speeds.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Weizmann Institute of Science recently demonstrated that the direction of a magnetic field can influence the isotopic fractionation of a chiral biomolecule, establishing a clear experimental link between electron spin, molecular chirality, and isotope-dependent behavior on magnetized surfaces.

The study focuses on L-methionine, a chiral amino acid, and examines how molecules containing different carbon isotopes - ¹²C and ¹³C - interact with magnetized surfaces. While isotopic fractionation is widely used to trace biochemical pathways, the mechanisms governing isotope selectivity in chiral systems have remained poorly understood.

A team of researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, and additional collaborators in Berlin, Dresden, Jülich, and Eindhoven have experimentally demonstrated and coherently controlled the transfer of angular momentum between lattice vibrations, providing the first direct observation of how this conserved quantity propagates through a crystal lattice.

In solids, the exchange of energy and linear momentum between phonons via anharmonic coupling is well established. However, tracking angular momentum transfer between lattice modes has remained elusive, despite its central role in magnetization dynamics and spin relaxation phenomena such as the Einstein–de Haas effect. The present work closes this gap by directly resolving how quantized crystal angular momentum is redistributed between coupled vibrational modes.