Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Cornell University managed to use an electric field to reverse the magnetization direction in a multiferroic spintronic device at room temperature.

The researchers showed that 180-degree magnetization switching in the multiferroic bismuth ferrite can be achieved at room temperature with an external electric field when the kinetics of the switching involves a two-step process. They say that this demonstration, which runs counter to conventional scientific wisdom, points a new way towards spintronics applications.

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

Researchers developed a new technique called HARPES (Hard x-ray Angle-Resolved PhotoEmission Spectroscopy) that can be used to investigate the bulk electronic structure of different materials. In the first application, they checked the bulk electronic structure of the prototypical dilute magnetic semiconductor gallium manganese arsenide, and discovered that the material’s ferromagnetism arises from both of the two different mechanisms that have been proposed to explain it. Understanding the source of ferromagnetism in dilute magnetic semiconductors is an important milestone toward using these materials in Spintronics devices.

HARPES, which is based on the photoelectric effect, enables scientists to study bulk electronic effects with minimum interference from surface reactions or contamination. It also allows them to probe buried layers and interfaces that are ubiquitous in nanoscale devices, and are key to smaller logic elements in electronics, novel memory architectures in spintronics, and more efficient energy conversion in photovoltaic cells.

Update: Unfortunately, Hideo Ohno did not get the Nobel, which went to Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, Adam G. Riess

According to Thomson Reuters a Spintronics researcher is a likely likely to be in contention for Nobel honors in Physics. They say that Hideo Ohno, Professor of the Laboratory for Nanoelectronics and Spintronics in Tohuku University is Japan may get the price for his contributions to ferromagnetism in diluted magnetic semiconductors.

Researchers from Japan managed to induce and control magnetization in a ferromagnetic semiconductor (cobalt-doped titanium dioxide) at room temperature. This is another step towards room-temperature Spintronics.

The researchers constructed an electric double-layer transistor structure (see above) which uses a liquid electrolyte as a gate insulator, in which a small applied voltage is sufficient to generate a very high electric field.

Researchers from the University of Maryland (UMD) discovered that missing atoms in Graphene (called vacancies) act as tiny magnets. If you arrange the atoms in a certain way, you could get ferromagnetism - which can be useful in spintronics devices.

Scientists from UCLA say they created a new class of material with magnetic properties in a dilute magnetic semiconductor (DMS) system. By using a type of quantum structure, they've been able to push the ferromagnetism above room temperature. 

Ferromagnetic coupling in DMS systems, the researchers say, could lead to a new breed of magneto-electronic devices that alleviate the problems related to electric currents. The electric field–controlled ferromagnetism reported in this study shows that without passing an electric current, electronic devices could be operated and functioning based on the collective spin behavior of the carriers. This holds great promise for building next-generation nanoscaled integrated chips with much lower power consumption.

NVE Corporation said that it has been notified by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that two patents are expected to be granted today. The patents are titled "Two-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor" and "Superparamagnetic Devices."

The Two-Axis Magnetic Field Sensor is patent number 7,054,114, and is the grant of a patent under the application published by the USPTO as number 2004-0137275. The invention is for a spintronic device that can detect the magnitude and orientation of magnetic fields. Applications for such devices might include Magnetoresitive Random Access Memory (MRAM), or military, industrial, and medical sensors.