Researchers use thin GaMnAs film to create an extremely efficient spintronics device

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have developed a spintronics device that can quickly and efficiently magnetize - which they say is between one and two orders of magnitude more power efficient than current spintronics device.

The researchers used a ferromagnetic semiconductor material called gallium manganese arsenide (GaMnAs) - the magnetization of which can be fully reversed with the application of very small current densities.

This material is ideal, the researcher say, as it is a high-quality single crystal, which does not have the tendency to flip electron spin like in less ordered films. The new GaMnAs film was produced with molecular beam epitaxy which created an especially thin film.