January 2014

Researchers from the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) developed a new type of tunnel device structure in which both the tunnel barrier and transport channel are made from graphene. The researchers say that this device features the highest spin injection values yet measured for graphene, and this design could pave they way towards highly functional and scalable graphene electronic and spintronic devices.

The tunnel barrier is made from dilutely fluorinated graphene while the charge and transport layer is made from graphene. The researcher demonstrated tunnel injection through the fluorinated graphene, and lateral transport and electrical detection of pure spin current in the graphene channel.

Researchers from Germany, France and the UK managed to switch on and off robust ferromagnetism close to room temperature by using low electric fields. They hope such work will lead to applications in low-power Spintronics devices.

The researchers used a ferroelectric BaTiO3 substrate and covered it with a thin film of magnetic FeRh. They then demonstrated how the magnetic order of the sample changes dramatically, when a moderate external electric field is applied

The European Research Council (ERC) granted a six-year €9.7 million grant to professor Jairo Sinova from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) for its spintronics research. Professor Sinova will collaborate with researchers from the UK and the Czech Republic.

The project is titled "Spin-charge conversion and spin caloritronics at hybrid organic-inorganic interfaces". The researchers hopes that by combining principles of inorganic spintronics with organic materials (polymers) they will achieve better results than if they used purely inorganic systems. The advantages of using polymers include the flexibility of the material, control over the physical properties, and the fact that they are relatively easy to produce.

Researchers from Cambridge showed that superconductors could be used as an energy-efficient source for spintronics devices - this was not believed to be possible by most researchers. Superconducting spintronics devices may enable powerful circuits that consumer very little power (in fact superconductors offer 100% energy efficiency).

The researchers showed that electrons spin can be detected and manipulated in the current flowing from a superconductor. They achieved that feat by adding an intervening magnetic layer (made from Holmium) to the superconductor. This layer allowed them to manipulate the electrons spin.

Researchers from MIT discovered that under a powerful magnetic field and at very low temperatures, graphene can filter electrons according to the direction of their spin. This is something that cannot be done by any conventional electronic system - and may make graphene very useful for quantum computing.

it is known that when a magnetic field is turned on perpendicular to a graphene flake, current flows only along the edge, and in one direction (clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the magnetic field orientation), while the bulk graphene sheet remains insulating. This is called the Quantum Hall effect.