Researchers investigate spin currents in chromium trihalides

Scientists have been looking for efficient methods to generate spin current. The photogalvanic effect, a phenomenon characterized by the generation of DC current from light illumination, is particularly useful in this regard. Studies have found that a photogalvanic spin current can be generated similarly using the magnetic fields in electromagnetic waves. However, there's a need for candidate materials and a general mathematical formulation for exploring this phenomenon.

Now, Associate Professor Hiroaki Ishizuka from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), along with his colleague Masahiro Sato, addressed these issues. In their recent study, they presented a general formula that can be used to calculate the photogalvanic spin current induced by transverse oscillating magnetic excitations. They then used this formula to understand how photogalvanic spin currents arise in bilayer chromium (Cr) trihalide compounds, namely chromium triiodide (CrI3) and chromium tribromide (CrBr3).

Read the full story Posted: Sep 05,2022

Researchers manage to achieve room temperature functionality of antiferromagnetic hybrids

A team of researchers, led by Igor Barsukov at the University of California, Riverside, in collaboration with researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, the University of Utah, and the University of California, Irvine, has demonstrated efficient spin transport in an antiferromagnet/ferromagnet hybrid that remains robust up to room temperature. The researchers observed coupling of magnonic subsystems in the antiferromagnet and ferromagnet and recognized its importance in spin transport, a key process in the operation of spin-based devices. 

Antiferromagnets have zero net magnetization and are insensitive to external magnetic field perturbations. Antiferromagnetic spintronic devices hold great promise for creating future ultra-fast and energy-efficient information storage, processing, and transmission platforms, potentially leading to faster and more energy-efficient computers.  However, in order to be useful for applications impacting everyday life, the devices need to be able to operate at room temperature. One of the key factors in realizing antiferromagnetic spintronics is the injection of spin current at the antiferromagnetic interface. Previously, efficient spin injection at these interfaces was realized at cryogenic temperatures. 

Read the full story Posted: Aug 24,2022

Researchers use a multiferroic magnetoelectric material to electrically control spin currents

A research team, led by the University of California, Berkeley, recently took a step toward a spin-based computer by demonstrating a way to switch spin currents on and off electrically.

The development of devices based on pure spin currents instead of charge currents is the goal of many scientists working in spin electronics, or spintronics. A subfield of spintronics, called magnonics, focuses on devices in which these spin currents are carried specifically by magnons—wave-like disturbances of the aligned spins in a magnetic material. Magnonics researchers face a challenge in that simply exciting magnons in a material is not enough to guarantee the creation of a spin current: when the magnons are uniformly distributed, the spin current is exactly equal to zero. The magnons must be controlled, and controlling magnons in insulating materials—ones that, because of the absence of charge currents, dissipate the least amount of energy—has proven difficult. In previous experiments, researchers have sought to achieve this control using large magnetic fields, but such fields can cause collateral heating, undermining the reason for pursuing magnonics in the first place.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 16,2022

Researchers take a step towards controlling electron spin at room temperature

Scientists have long since been trying to use electric fields to control spin at room temperature but achieving effective control has thus far been elusive. In a recent research work, a team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of California at Santa Cruz took a step forward in addressing the issue.

An electron has a spin degree of freedom, meaning that it not only holds a charge but also acts like a little magnet. In spintronics, a key task is to use an electric field to control electron spin and rotate the north pole of the magnet in any given direction. The spintronic field effect transistor harnesses the so-called Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling effect, which suggests that one can control electron spin by electric field. Although the method holds promise for efficient and high-speed computing, certain challenges must be overcome before the technology reaches its true, miniature but powerful, and eco-friendly, potential.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 15,2022

Researchers explore spin manipulation technique as a path towards ultralow power electronics

Researchers from Beihang University and University of British Columbia have found that spin flipping can be achieved by the valley-Zeeman SOF in monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe2) at room temperature, which manifests as a negative magnetoresistance in the vertical spin valve.

Manipulating spins can enable the development of ultralow power electronics, but previous approaches were limited by the strength of the effective field and high-quality structures. The team in this recent study explored a mechanism to manipulate spins at room temperature with monolayer tungsten diselenide, in virtue of a novel giant spin-orbit field.

Read the full story Posted: Jul 14,2022

TUK team secures grant to develop spintronic devices

A research team from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern (TUK) has been awarded a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to develop spintronic devices.

Professor Dr. Mathias Weiler, lead of the study, will receive €2 million over the next five years. Scientists are working on spin waves and new spintronic devices that could drastically accelerate the storage, processing, and transmission of information.

Read the full story Posted: Mar 22,2022

Researchers develop conducting system that controls the spin of electrons and transmits a spin current over long distances

In a new study by a team of Duke University and Weizmann Institute researchers, led by Michael Therien, professor of chemistry at Duke, a new achievement was reported: The development of a conducting system that controls the spin of electrons and transmits a spin current over long distances, without the need for the ultra-cold temperatures required by typical spin-conductors.

"The structures we present here are exciting because they define new strategies to generate large magnitude spin currents at room temperature," said Chih-Hung Ko, first author of the paper and recent Duke chemistry Ph.D.

Read the full story Posted: Feb 02,2022

Researchers succeed in measuring the properties of spin waves in graphene

Researchers from Harvard University and Japan's National Institute for Materials Science have demonstrated a new way to measure the properties of spin waves in graphene.

New method to measure spin waves in graphene imageA charge sensor measuring the cost of electrons surfing on the spin wave (green wavy lines) (Credit: Yacoby Lab/ Harvard SEAS)

Spin waves, a change in electron spin that propagates through a material, could fundamentally change how devices store and carry information. These waves, also known as magnons, don’t scatter or couple with other particles. Under the right conditions, they can even act like a superfluid, moving through a material with zero energy loss.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 15,2021

Researchers design a system that demonstrates unusually long-range Josephson coupling across a half-metallic ferromagnet

An international team has, for the first time, designed a material system that exhibits an unusually long-range Josephson effect. Regions of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 are separated by a region of half-metallic, ferromagnetic manganite (La2/3Sr1/3MnO3) one micron wide.

When two superconducting regions are separated by a strip of non-superconducting material, a special quantum effect can occur, coupling both regions. This is known as the Josephson effect. If the spacer material is a half-metal ferromagnet, it can open up new potential applications for novel spintronic applications.

Read the full story Posted: Dec 05,2021

Researchers show helium can assist in controlling the spin polarization of electrons

Researchers at University of St. Andrews in the U.K., along with other institutes worldwide, have recently shown that helium can influence the spin polarization of the tunneling current and magnetic contrast of a technique known as spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP STM). Their findings could have important implications for the development of new electronic devices.

In their previous research, the same research group investigated the magnetic order in the antiferromagnetic material iron telluride. They found that by collecting magnetic material from their sample's surface using an STM tip, they could image the sample's magnetic order.

Read the full story Posted: Nov 03,2021