June 2014

Researchers from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) managed to directly observe the 100% spin polarization of a Heusler compound. A Heusler alloy is made from several metallic elements arranged in a lattice structure, and the researchers used the compound Co₂MnSi. This paves the way towards using Heusler materials for spintronics devices.

Spin polarization is the degree of parallel orientation of the spins of the electrons that transport the charge. The ideal spintronics material has the maximum possible spin polarization. The Heusler alloy used in this material was shown to have an almost complete spin polarization at room temperature.

Researchers at UCLA developed a new nanoscale magnetic component for computer memory chips that could significantly improve their energy efficiency and scalability. The innovative asymmetric structure allows it to better exploit electrons' spin and orbital properties, making it much more power efficient than today's computer memory.

The structure devised at UCLA eliminates the need for an adjacent magnetic field. The researchers instead created an effective magnetic field by varying the angle of the structure by just a few atoms, in a shape resembling a cheese wedge: thicker on one end and sloping downward to a thinner edge on the other end.

Georgia Institute of Technology, in collaboration (and sponsorship) from Intel developed a physics-based modeling platform that advances spintronics interconnect research for next-generation computing.

The researchers are focusing on developing spintronics switches with adequate connectivity. They are researching the communicating between spin-logic devices and they demonstrated that interconnects are an even more important challenge for beyond-CMOS switches.