Cavendish laboratory researchers from the Physics department at the University of Cambridge have provided a novel insight into spintronics, which is being regarded as a future successor to transistors.
Spintronics utilizes a small magnetic moment or spin of electrons that can drastically transform computing because of its capability of having high-density, -speed, and less-energy consumption. The new research explains how to produce more efficient electron spins.
Spintronics research aims to offer a spin-based electronic technology that can substitute the charge-based semiconductor technology. Scientists have already commenced development of new spin-based electronics using giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect as the base. The GMR effect has enabled a breakthrough in hard disk drives with GB memory and has also acted as a platform to develop compact electronic devices such as an iPod.
Spintronics is based on the controlling the electron’s spin whereas conventional techniques manipulate the electron’s charge. One major advantage of spintronics is that electron spins can be transferred without the flow of electric current. This electron spin transfer is known as spin current and can allow the transfer of data without producing heat in electrical devices. One of the important hindrances concerning spin current technology is that it is not easy to produce huge amounts of spin current required to enhance power and next generation electronic devices.
However, the new Cambridge researchers together with a team headed by Professor Sergej Demokritov from University of Muenster, Germany, have created large volumes of spin currents by using the combined motion of spins known as spin waves, which is the wave property of electron spin. By creating interaction between spin waves, researches discovered an effective means of producing large volumes of spin currents.
Their study reveals that three-magnon splitting, one of the spin wave interactions, is ten times more efficient in producing spin current than a previously interacting spin-wave. Besides, their findings combine two important fields of spintronics known as spin wave interaction and spin current.