December 2025

Scientists at Ames National Laboratory, in collaboration with Indranil Das’s group at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (India), recently found a surprising electronic feature in transitional metal-based compounds that could pave the way for a new class of spintronic materials for computing and memory technologies.

The feature was found in Mn₂PdIn, a Heusler compound - a type of alloy valued for its tunable magnetic and electronic properties. These alloys can exhibit behaviors not seen in their individual elements, making them prime candidates for spintronic applications.

Researchers from EPFL, Max Planck Institute and HZB have shown that spin chirality can be engineered purely by 3D shape in an otherwise non‑chiral ferromagnet, unlocking spontaneous MChA at room temperature and zero applied field.

The device is a hollow “Archimedean screw”: a 3D‑printed polymer tube made by two‑photon lithography and conformally coated with a ~30 nm polycrystalline Ni layer by ALD, forming a twisted nanotube whose left‑ or right‑handed geometry imprints the magnetic twist. The curved, twisted shape creates a helical magnetization pattern with a built‑in magnetic “circulation”, which breaks symmetry between +k and −k spin waves without needing exotic chiral crystals or external magnetic fields.

Researchers from RWTH Aachen University, Ioffe Institute and Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH have shown that the collective motion of spin-polarized electrons can spontaneously generate ultrafast electric currents - without any applied voltage.

In their experiments on strained n-InGaAs semiconductor layers, the team found that when electrons are initialized in the same spin state and exposed to a magnetic field, they produce an alternating current (AC) at gigahertz frequencies. This current persists until the coherent spin precession of the electrons dephases. Its amplitude scales linearly with both the strength of the spin–orbit interaction and the magnetic field, revealing a direct link between spin dynamics and charge motion in solid-state systems.

Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have partnered with NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, and the Institute of Nuclear Physics in the Polish Academy of Sciences to develop a method that facilitates the manufacture of particularly efficient magnetic nanomaterials in a relatively simple process based on inexpensive raw materials. 

Using a highly focused ion beam, they imprint magnetic nanostrips consisting of tiny, vertically aligned nanomagnets onto the materials. This geometry makes the material highly sensitive to external magnetic fields and current pulses.

A research team, led by Ryo Shimano of the University of Tokyo, has explored ultrafast spin dynamics in the antiferromagnetic Weyl semimetal Mn₃Sn, providing direct visualization of current-induced switching processes at the sub-nanosecond scale. Mn₃Sn is of particular interest for spintronic applications due to its non-collinear spin structure, which gives rise to distinct magnetic and electrical properties at room temperature.

Using spatiotemporally resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect imaging with electrical pulses as short as 140 picoseconds, the team captured the evolution of magnetic domains during switching in polycrystalline Mn₃Sn films. The measurements revealed two distinct regimes of magnetization reversal depending on the intensity and duration of the applied current pulse: a non-thermal process where switching occurs without disrupting the antiferromagnetic order, and a thermally assisted process involving transient heating beyond the magnetic ordering temperature.