A team of researchers from Sweden, Finland and Japan have designed a semiconductor component in which information can be efficiently exchanged between electron spin and light at room temperature and above.
Developments in spintronics in recent decades have been based on the use of metals, and these have been highly significant for the possibility of storing large amounts of data. There would, however, be several advantages in using spintronics based on semiconductors, in the same way that semiconductors form the backbone of today's electronics and photonics.