Skip to main content

Scientists Flip the Script and Solve a Longstanding Spintronics Challenge




A breakthrough in spintronics reveals that material defects can be harnessed to boost device efficiency, overturning decades of assumptions.

Scientists have discovered a way to transform what was once considered a major problem in electronics, material defects, into a powerful quantum-based advantage. This breakthrough could open the door to a new generation of spintronic devices that operate with extremely low power demands.

Spintronics, short for “spin electronics,” is an area of research that seeks to move beyond the boundaries of traditional electronic technology. Standard devices depend solely on the electrical charge of electrons to process and store data.

In contrast, spintronics taps into two additional quantum features: spin angular momentum, which can be pictured as an inherent “up” or “down” orientation of each electron, and orbital angular momentum, which describes the paths electrons follow as they circle atomic nuclei. By using these added dimensions, spintronic systems can pack more information into smaller spaces, achieve higher speeds, cut energy use, and even preserve data after the power supply is turned off.

The Defect Dilemma

A longstanding challenge in spintronics has been the role of material defects. Introducing imperfections into a material can sometimes make it easier to “write” data into memory bits by reducing the current needed, but this typically comes at a cost: electrical resistance increases, spin Hall conductivity declines, and overall power consumption goes up. This trade-off has been a major obstacle to developing ultra-low-power spintronic devices.

Now, the Flexible Magnetic-Electronic Materials and Devices Group from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found a way to turn this problem into an advantage. Their study, published in Nature Materials, focused on the orbital Hall effect in strontium ruthenate (SrRuO3), a transition metal oxide whose properties can be finely tuned. This quantum phenomenon causes electrons to move in a way determined by their orbital angular momentum.

Using custom-designed devices and precision measurement techniques, the researchers uncovered an unconventional scaling law that achieves a “two birds with one stone” outcome: Defect engineering simultaneously boosts both orbital Hall conductivity and orbital Hall angle, a stark contrast to conventional spin-based systems.

To explain this finding, the team linked it to the Dyakonov-Perel-like orbital relaxation mechanism. “Scattering processes that typically degrade performance actually extend the lifetime of orbital angular momentum, thereby enhancing orbital current,” said Dr. Xuan Zheng, a co-first author of the study.

Rewriting the Rulebook

“This work essentially rewrites the rulebook for designing these devices,” said Prof. Zhiming Wang, a corresponding author of the study. “Instead of fighting material imperfections, we can now exploit them.”

Experimental measurements confirm the technology’s potential: tailored conductivity modulation yielded a threefold improvement in switching energy efficiency.

This study not only provides new insights into orbital transport physics but also redefines design strategies for energy-efficient spintronics.

#HighEnergyPhysics#ParticlePhysics#QuantumPhysics#AstroparticlePhysics#ColliderPhysics#HiggsBoson#LHC#QuantumFieldTheory#NeutrinoPhysics#PhysicsResearch#ComputationalScience#DataScience#ScientificComputing#NumericalMethods#HighPerformanceComputing#MachineLearningInScience#BigData#AlgorithmDevelopment#SimulationScience#ParallelComputing

Visit Our Website : hep-conferences.sciencefather.com
Nomination Link :hep-conferences.sciencefather.com/award-nomination/?ecategory=Awards&rcategory=Awardee
Registration Link : hep-conferences.sciencefather.com/award-registration/
Member Link : hep-conferences.sciencefather.com/conference-membership/?ecategory=Membership&rcategory=Member
Awards-Winners : hep-conferences.sciencefather.com/awards-winners/
For Enquiries: supportteam@sciencefather.com

Get Connected Here:
==================
Social Media Link
Twitter : x.com/Psciencefather
Pinterest : in.pinterest.com/physicsresearchorganisation
Blog : physicscience23.blogspot.com
Instagram : www.instagram.com/victoriaanisa1
YouTube :www.youtube.com/channel/UCzqmZ9z40uRjiPSr9XdEwMA
Tumblr : https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hepcs

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Physicists observe a new form of magnetism for the first time

MIT physicists have demonstrated a new form of magnetism that could one day be harnessed to build faster, denser, and less power-hungry " spintronic " memory chips. The new magnetic state is a mash-up of two main forms of magnetism: the ferromagnetism of everyday fridge magnets and compass needles, and antiferromagnetism, in which materials have magnetic properties at the microscale yet are not macroscopically magnetized. Now, the MIT team has demonstrated a new form of magnetism , termed "p-wave magnetism." Physicists have long observed that electrons of atoms in regular ferromagnets share the same orientation of "spin," like so many tiny compasses pointing in the same direction. This spin alignment generates a magnetic field, which gives a ferromagnet its inherent magnetism. Electrons belonging to magnetic atoms in an antiferromagnet also have spin, although these spins alternate, with electrons orbiting neighboring atoms aligning their spins antiparalle...
Post a Comment
Read more

Green comet to pass Earth, won't be back for another 50,000 years

   visit:  https://hep-conferences.sciencefather.com/ After travelling from the icy reaches of our Solar System it will come closest to the Sun on January 12 and pass nearest to Earth on February 1.   A newly discovered comet could be visible to the naked eye as it shoots past Earth and the Sun in the coming weeks for the first time in 50,000 years, astronomers have said. The comet is called C/2022 E3 (ZTF) after the Zwicky Transient Facility, which first spotted it passing Jupiter in March last year. After travelling from the icy reaches of our Solar System it will come closest to the Sun on January 12 and pass nearest to Earth on February 1. It will be easy to spot with a good pair of binoculars and likely even with the naked eye, provided the sky is not too illuminated by city lights or the Moon. The comet "will be brightest when it is closest to the Earth", Thomas Prince, a physics professor at the California Institute of Technology who works at the Zwicky Transi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Physicists Catch Light in 'Imaginary Time' in Scientific First

For the first time, researchers have seen how light behaves during a mysterious phenomenon called 'imaginary time '. When you shine light through almost any transparent material, the gridlock of electromagnetic fields that make up the atomic alleys and side streets will add a significant amount of time to each photon's commute. This delay can tell physicists a lot about how light scatters, revealing details about the matrix of material the photons must navigate. Yet until now, one trick up the theorist's sleeve for measuring light's journey invoking imaginary time has not been fully understood in practical terms. An experiment conducted by University of Maryland physicists Isabella Giovannelli and Steven Anlage has now revealed precisely what pulses of microwave radiation (a type of light that exists outside the visible spectrum) do while experiencing imaginary time inside a roundabout of cables. Their work also demonstrates how imaginary numbers can describe a ver...
Post a Comment
Read more