September 2025

Researchers from CNRS, Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, and the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth have demonstrated that all-optical helicity-independent magnetization switching (AO-HIS) in spintronic materials is a spatially inhomogeneous process along the depth of nanometer-thin magnetic films, challenging the traditional view of uniform, local switching. 

Using femtosecond soft X-ray spectroscopy on a 9.4 nm-thick Gd₂₅Co₇₅ alloy film within a layered heterostructure, they observed an ultrafast formation and downward propagation of a magnetization boundary at about 2,000 m/s, sweeping through the magnetic layer in roughly 4.5 ps.

Researchers from Kobe University have investigated how fabrication techniques influence the interface between graphene barriers and nickel-iron alloy electrodes in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). These interfaces play a crucial role in determining the performance of spintronic devices, but their atomic structure and resulting electronic properties can vary significantly depending on how the materials are combined. 

By comparing two main approaches - transferring graphene onto a nickel-iron substrate or depositing the alloy directly onto graphene - the team uncovered how the choice of process governs the stability of nickel-rich versus iron-rich surfaces, ultimately shaping the spin-dependent behavior of MTJs.

A rare spin effect once thought confined to bulk crystals is now confirmed in ultrathin magnetic films. This effect, known as altermagnetism, arises in a special class of antiferromagnets where electronic bands split depending on electron momentum, despite the absence of net magnetization. Unlike ferromagnets, which produce disruptive stray fields, or conventional antiferromagnets, which often conceal useful spin properties, altermagnets combine stability with robust spin-split band structures - making them attractive for spin-based devices.

A recent study by scientists from Pennsylvania State University, University of California (Santa Barbara), University of Minnesota, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Oakridge National Laboratory and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science demonstrated this behavior in chromium antimonide (CrSb) thin films. 

Researchers at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST) in India have shown that cholesterol, the fat like substance, can be used to control the spin of electrons.

The team has found that cholesterol can serve as a platform for constructing supramolecular based spintronic materials as it enables precise control over molecular properties due to its intrinsic handedness (chirality) and flexibility.

Researchers from Korea University, Seoul National University, Northwestern University and Korea Institute of Science and Technology have created magnetic nanohelices that can control electron spin. The technology utilizes chiral magnetic materials to regulate electron spin at room temperature.

"These nanohelices achieve spin polarization exceeding ~80%—just by their geometry and magnetism," stated Professor Young Keun Kim of Korea University, a co-corresponding author of the study. He added: "This is a rare combination of structural chirality and intrinsic ferromagnetism, enabling spin filtering at room temperature without complex magnetic circuitry or cryogenics, and provides a new way to engineer electron behavior using structural design."

Unusual magnetoresistance (UMR)—a change in resistivity when magnetization rotates perpendicular to the current—has long puzzled researchers. Traditionally linked to spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) and other spin-current-based models, UMR has been widely observed even in systems where these mechanisms should not apply. This inconsistency has fueled a proliferation of alternative explanations, from Rashba-Edelstein MR to orbital Hall MR.

Now, a study led by Prof. Lijun Zhu (Institute of Semiconductors, CAS) and Prof. Xiangrong Wang (CUHK) provides experimental evidence that UMR has a far simpler and universal origin: interfacial electron scattering governed jointly by the magnetization vector and interfacial electric field. Dubbed two-vector magnetoresistance, this model reproduces key features of UMR—including giant signals in single-layer magnetic metals, high-order contributions, and a striking universal sum rule—without invoking spin or orbital currents or crystalline symmetry.