If you're interesting in Spintronics, and like our site, you might be happy to know that we now have a facebook page. You may join these and get updates via your Facebook account.
We're happy spreading Spintronics news in whatever way we can...
The Departmentâs Professor Mike Adams explains: 'The research topic is "Injected Spin Lasers", that is lasers whose output polarisation is controlled by the injection of spin-polarised electrons. Polarisation is a property of waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations. Circular polarisation of laser radiation means that the tip of the electric field vector, at a fixed point in space, describes a circle as time progresses. Circular polarisation is referred to as right or left, depending on the direction in which the electric field vector rotates. An electron has one of two types of spin: spin up or spin down. In a spin-injected laser, spin down electrons couple to right circularly polarised radiation, whilst spin up electrons couple to left circularly polarised radiation, thus allowing us to control the output polarisation of the laser.'
Virginia Tech chemistry Professor Harry Dorn has developed a new area of fullerene chemistry that may be the backbone for development of molecular semiconductors and quantum computing applications.
As part of the research to place gadolinium atoms inside the carbon cage for MRI applications, Dorn created 80-atom carbon molecule with two yttrium ions inside. Then he began to fool with the materials of the cage itself. He replaced one of the 80 atoms of carbon with an atom of nitrogen (providing Y2@C79N). This change leaves the nitrogen atom with an extra electron. Dorn discovered that the extra electron, instead of being on the nitrogen atom on the fullerene cage surface, ducks inside between the yttrium ions, forming a one-electron bond. "Basically, a very unusual one electron bond between two yttrium atoms," he said.
"No one has done anything like this," said Dorn. "Since the article was published, we now know that we can take the electron back out of the fullerene cage."
He says the discovery could be important to the new fields of spintronics, molecular electronics, and micro to nanoscale electronics, as well as the new field of quantum computing.
Â