April 2018

Researchers from Singapore's NUS and the University of Missouri developed a new all-electric method to measure the spin texture of topological insulators. The researchers say that this method could lead to an easier (and cheaper) methods of developing spintronics devices.

The new work revealed a close relation between the spin texture of topological surface states (TSS) and a new kind of magneto-resistance. The researchers observed the second order nonlinear magneto-resistance in a prototypical 3D TI Bi₂Se₃ films, and showed that it is sensitive to TSS. In contrast with conventional magneto-resistances, this new magneto-resistance shows a linear dependence on both the applied electric and magnetic fields.

The UK National Physical Laboratory (NPL) published this video of a lecture by Yoshi Chika Otani from Japan's RIKEN and the University of Tokyo titled "Spin Conversion Phenomena in Spintronics"

The lecture covers all the recently discovered conversion phenomena, such as the direct and inverse spin Hall effects, spin Seebeck and Peltier effects, spin pumping, and the inverse Faraday effect.