Group Seminar 2022/23

Abstract: Spintronics aims to utilise the intrinsic 'spin' of the electron, in addition to or instead of its charge, as a state variable to process, convey, and store digital information. This can lead to higher data storage densities, non-volatile storage & memory, radiation hardness, and encourage development of novel computing architectures. One of the primary ‘problems’ in spintronics is understanding the role of interfaces between the dissimilar classes of materials required for different device functionalities; particularly the passage of spin-polarised current, or more recently pure spin-currents, across these interfaces. After introducing to the basic physics of how these various devices operate, and how they compare with the current state-of-the-art in conventional electronics I will discuss some of our recent related work investigating the passage of spin-currents across interfaces. I will also show how we have used neutron and synchrotron x-ray scattering techniques to assist in understanding details of the physics underpinning spintronic device functionalities.