Spintronics News - Page 1

Researchers in the UK, South Korea and the U.S recently discovered that the two-dimensional layered magnet chromium triiodide (CrI₃) acts as a topological magnon insulator in the absence of an external magnetic field. This result could have potential applications for so-called dissipationless spintronics in which electrons are used to transmit and store information in an ultra-fast and ultra-low power fashion.

Thanks to detailed neutron scattering measurements and fine analysis, the team has found that this phenomenon comes from the way in which the layers in the material are stacked together. That is, while a single layer of CrI₃ is ferromagnetic, two stacked layers are antiferromagnetic which counterintuitively is different from that in ferromagnetic bulk.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed an all-thin-film membrane composite of the relaxor-ferroelectric material lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT) and ferromagnetic nickel that demonstrates an intrinsic coupling between voltage and spin.

When they apply voltage to the structure, it rotates the spins of the nickel layer, a magnetoelectric effect important for spintronics. The extreme thinness of the structure allows the use of low-voltages.

An international collaboration, led by RMIT, has quantified spin in a 2D quantum spin Hall insulator (QSHI) WTe₂, a promising option for future low-energy nano-electronic and spintronic devices.

Using anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) to reveal the relationship between electrons’ spin and momentum, the team demonstrated the promising potential of QSHI for novel spintronic devices, and proved the value of AMR for design and development of QSHI-based spintronics.

An international team of scientists from Austria and Germany has launched a new paradigm in magnetism and superconductivity, highlighting the effects of curvature, topology, and 3D geometry.

In modern magnetism, superconductivity and spintronics, extending nanostructures into the third dimension has become a major research avenue because of geometry-, curvature- and topology-induced phenomena. This approach provides a means to improve this and to launch novel functionalities by tailoring the curvature and 3D shape.

Researchers at University of St. Andrews in the U.K., along with other institutes worldwide, have recently shown that helium can influence the spin polarization of the tunneling current and magnetic contrast of a technique known as spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP STM). Their findings could have important implications for the development of new electronic devices.

In their previous research, the same research group investigated the magnetic order in the antiferromagnetic material iron telluride. They found that by collecting magnetic material from their sample's surface using an STM tip, they could image the sample's magnetic order.

Researchers from Japan's Tokyo Institute of Technology, National Institute for Materials Science and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology have found that lead-based vacancy centers in diamonds, that form after high-pressure and high-temperature treatment, are ideal for quantum networks, spintronics and quantum sensors.

The color in a diamond comes from a defect, or “vacancy,” where there is a missing carbon atom in the crystal lattice. Vacancies have long been of interest to electronics researchers because they can be used as ‘quantum nodes’ or points that make up a quantum network for the transfer of data. One of the ways of introducing a defect into a diamond is by implanting it with other elements, like nitrogen, silicon, or tin. In their recent study, the scientists from Japan demonstrated that lead-vacancy centers in diamond have the right properties to function as quantum nodes. “The use of a heavy group IV atom like lead is a simple strategy to realize superior spin properties at increased temperatures, but previous studies have not been consistent in determining the optical properties of lead-vacancy centers accurately,” says Associate Professor Takayuki Iwasaki of Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), who led the study.

The attractive properties of Sr₂RuO₄, like its ability to carry lossless electrical currents and magnetic information simultaneously, make it a material with great potential for the development of future technologies like superconducting spintronics and quantum electronics. An international research team, led by scientists at the University of Konstanz, was recently able to answer one of the most interesting open questions on Sr₂RuO₄: why does the superconducting state of this material exhibit some features that are typically found in materials known as ferromagnets, which are considered being antagonists to superconductors?

Spin polarized muon particles (red spheres with arrows) probing a new form of magnetism in the perovskite superconductor Sr2RuO4. Credit: Konstanz University

The team has found that the material hosts a new form of magnetism, which can coexist with superconductivity and exists independently of superconductivity as well.