New breakthrough in 'spintronics' could boost high speed data technology


Date:
July 6, 2020
Source:
University of Exeter
Summary:
Scientists have made a pivotal breakthrough in the important,
emerging field of spintronics -- which could lead to a new high
speed energy efficient data technology.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Scientists have made a pivotal breakthrough in the important, emerging
field of spintronics -- which could lead to a new high speed energy
efficient data technology.


==========================================================================
An international team of researchers, including the University of Exeter,
has made a revolutionary discovery that has the potential to provide
high speed, low power-usage for some of the world's most well-used
electronic devices.

While today's information technology relies on electronics that consumes
a huge amount of energy, the electrons within electric currents can also transfer a form of angular momentum called spin.

'Spin-based electronics or 'spintronics', that exploits spin current,
has the potential to be not just significantly faster, but also more
energy efficient.

Scientists have recently discovered that some electrically insulating antiferromagnetic materials are exceptionally good conductors of pure
spin current.

In the new research, scientists from Exeter, in collaboration with the Universities of Oxford, California Berkeley, and the Advanced and Diamond
Light Sources, have experimentally demonstrated that high frequency
alternating spin currents can be transmitted by, and sometimes amplified within, thin layers of antiferromagnetic NiO.

The results demonstrate that the spin current in thin NiO layers is
mediated by evanescent spin waves, a mechanism akin to quantum mechanical tunnelling.

The use of thin NiO layers for transfer and amplification of ac spin
current at room temperature and gigahertz frequencies may lead to more efficient future wireless communication technology.

The research is published in Physical Review Letters.

Maciej Dabrowski, first author from the University of Exeter said: "Confirmation of the evanescent spin wave mechanism shown by our
experiment indicates that the transfer of angular momentum between the
spins and the crystal lattice of an antiferromagnet can be realized in
thin NiO films and opens the door to the construction of nanoscale spin
current amplifiers"

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Exeter. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Maciej Dąbrowski, Takafumi Nakano, David M. Burn, Andreas
Frisk,
David G. Newman, Christoph Klewe, Qian Li, Mengmeng Yang, Padraic
Shafer, Elke Arenholz, Thorsten Hesjedal, Gerrit van der Laan, Zi
Q. Qiu, Robert J. Hicken. Coherent Transfer of Spin Angular Momentum
by Evanescent Spin Waves within Antiferromagnetic NiO. Physical
Review Letters, 2020; 124 (21) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.217201 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200706094818.htm

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