Electric ferromagnetism at room temperature shown in cobalt-doped titanium dioxide

Researchers from Japan managed to induce and control magnetization in a ferromagnetic semiconductor (cobalt-doped titanium dioxide) at room temperature. This is another step towards room-temperature Spintronics.

The researchers constructed an electric double-layer transistor structure (see above) which uses a liquid electrolyte as a gate insulator, in which a small applied voltage is sufficient to generate a very high electric field.

Electrical measurements revealed that the cobalt-doped titanium oxide displays a distinct ferromagnetic response at modest gate voltages due to an increase in itinerant electron density. This happens at room temperature - and the researchers do not know yet why this happens...