PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

New electron spin secrets revealed

Discovery of a novel link between magnetism and electricity may have applications in electronics.

2014-11-10
(Press-News.org) Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Cambridge in the UK have demonstrated that it is possible to directly generate an electric current in a magnetic material by rotating its magnetization.

The findings reveal a novel link between magnetism and electricity, and may have applications in electronics.

The electric current generation demonstrated by the researchers is called charge pumping. Charge pumping provides a source of very high frequency alternating electric currents, and its magnitude and external magnetic field dependency can be used to detect magnetic information.

The findings may, therefore, offer new and exciting ways of transferring and manipulating data in electronic devices based on spintronics, a technology that uses electron spin as the foundation for information storage and manipulation.

The research findings are published as an Advance Online Publication (AOP) on Nature Nanotechnology's website on 10 November 2014.

Spintronics has already been exploited in magnetic mass data storage since the discovery of the giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect in 1988. For their contribution to physics, the discoverers of GMR were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2007.

The basis of spintronics is the storage of information in the magnetic configuration of ferromagnets and the read-out via spin-dependent transport mechanisms.

"Much of the progress in spintronics has resulted from exploiting the coupling between the electron spin and its orbital motion, but our understanding of these interactions is still immature. We need to know more so that we can fully explore and exploit these forces," says Arne Brataas, professor at NTNU and the corresponding author for the paper.

An electron has a spin, a seemingly internal rotation, in addition to an electric charge. The spin can be up or down, representing clockwise and counterclockwise rotations.

Pure spin currents are charge currents in opposite directions for the two spin components in the material.

It has been known for some time that rotating the magnetization in a magnetic material can generate pure spin currents in adjacent conductors.

However, pure spin currents cannot be conventionally detected by a voltmeter because of the cancellation of the associated charge flow in the same direction.

A secondary spin-charge conversion element is then necessary, such as another ferromagnet or a strong spin-orbit interaction, which causes a spin Hall effect.

Brataas and his collaborators have demonstrated that in a small class of ferromagnetic materials, the spin-charge conversion occurs in the materials themselves.

The spin currents created in the materials are thus directly converted to charge currents via the spin-orbit interaction.

In other words, the ferromagnets function intrinsically as generators of alternating currents driven by the rotating magnetization.

"The phenomenon is a result of a direct link between electricity and magnetism. It allows for the possibility of new nano-scale detection techniques of magnetic information and for the generation of very high-frequency alternating currents," Brataas says.

The generation and modulation of high-frequency currents are central wireless communication devices such as mobile phones, WLAN modules for personal computers, Bluetooth devices and future vehicle radars.

INFORMATION:

The research team also included scientists from the University of Copenhagen; the Institute of Physics ACSR, Czech Republic; the University of California, Los Angeles; and the Japan Science and Technology Agency.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Catalyst-where-you-want-it method expands the possibilities for new drug development

Catalyst-where-you-want-it method expands the possibilities for new drug development
2014-11-10
LA JOLLA, CA--November 10, 2014--Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry have described a method for creating and modifying organic compounds that overcomes a major limitation of previous methods. The advance opens up a large number of novel chemical structures for synthesis and evaluation, for example, as candidate pharmaceuticals. The new method was designed to avoid an unwanted side effect--a diversion of a catalyst molecule to the wrong location--that prevents chemists from manipulating many organic compounds ...

Iron fertilization less efficient for deep-sea CO2 storage than previously thought?

2014-11-10
The Southern Ocean plays an important role in the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the ocean. One aspect of this is the growth of phytoplankton, which acts as a natural sponge for carbon dioxide, drawing the troublesome greenhouse gas from the atmosphere into the sea. When these plankton die they can sink to the bottom of the ocean and store some of the carbon dioxide they have absorbed, a process scientists call the "biological carbon pump". Although many areas of the Southern Ocean are rich in nutrients, they often lack iron, which limits phytoplankton ...

Some neurons can multitask, raising questions about the importance of specialization

Some neurons can multitask, raising questions about the importance of specialization
2014-11-10
Cold Spring Harbor, NY - Think about all the things you are doing at this moment. As your eyes scan across the lines of this article, maybe your brain is processing the smell of coffee brewing down the hall and the sound of leaf blowers outside your window. Maybe you are tapping your foot and spinning a pen between your fingers. At any given moment, your brain is simultaneously processing a multitude of information from your senses while supporting a dizzying array of behaviors. How is all this information processed at once? The provisional answer, for decades, has centered ...

A billion holes can make a battery

A billion holes can make a battery
2014-11-10
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Researchers at the University of Maryland have invented a single tiny structure that includes all the components of a battery that they say could bring about the ultimate miniaturization of energy storage components. The structure is called a nanopore: a tiny hole in a ceramic sheet that holds electrolyte to carry the electrical charge between nanotube electrodes at either end. The existing device is a test, but the bitsy battery performs well. First author Chanyuan Liu, a graduate student in materials science & engineering, says that it can be ...

Good vibrations give electrons excitations that rock an insulator to go metallic

Good vibrations give electrons excitations that rock an insulator to go metallic
2014-11-10
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Nov. 10, 2014--For more than 50 years, scientists have debated what turns particular oxide insulators, in which electrons barely move, into metals, in which electrons flow freely. Some scientists sided with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Nevill Mott in thinking direct interactions between electrons were the key. Others believed, as did physicist Rudolf Peierls, that atomic vibrations and distortions trumped all. Now, a team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has made an important advancement in understanding a classic transition-metal ...

Re-learning how to read a genome

Re-learning how to read a genome
2014-11-10
Cold Spring Harbor, NY - There are roughly 20,000 genes and thousands of other regulatory "elements" stored within the three billion letters of the human genome. Genes encode information that is used to create proteins, while other genomic elements help regulate the activation of genes, among other tasks. Somehow all of this coded information within our DNA needs to be read by complex molecular machinery and transcribed into messages that can be used by our cells. Usually, reading a gene is thought to be a lot like reading a sentence. The reading machinery is guided ...

Thousands of never-before-seen human genome variations uncovered

Thousands of never-before-seen human genome variations uncovered
2014-11-10
Thousands of never-before-seen genetic variants in the human genome have been uncovered using a new genome sequencing technology. These discoveries close many human genome mapping gaps that have long resisted sequencing. The technique, called single-molecule, real-time DNA sequencing (SMRT), may now make it possible for researchers to identify potential genetic mutations behind many conditions whose genetic causes have long eluded scientists, said Evan Eichler, professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington, who led the team that conducted the study. "We ...

Statins reverse learning disabilities caused by genetic disorder

Statins reverse learning disabilities caused by genetic disorder
2014-11-10
UCLA neuroscientists discovered that statins, a popular class of cholesterol drugs, reverse the learning deficits caused by a mutation linked to a common genetic cause of learning disabilities. Published in the Nov. 10 advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience, the findings were studied in mice genetically engineered to develop the disease, called Noonan syndrome. The disorder can disrupt a child's development in many ways, often causing unusual facial features, short stature, heart defects and developmental delays. No treatment is currently available. "Noonan ...

A greasy way to take better protein snapshots

2014-11-10
Thanks to research performed at RIKEN's SACLA x-ray free electron laser facility in Japan, the dream of analyzing the structure of large, hard-to-crystallize proteins and other bio molecules has come one step closer to reality. In the study published in Nature Methods, researchers used a newly developed grease to suspend small crystals of lysozyme, glucose isomerase, thaumatin, and fatty acid-binding protein type-3, which they then analyzed using the revolutionary serial femtosecond crystallography method. Crystallography, which was first performed just a century ago, ...

Heat transfer sets the noise floor for ultrasensitive electronics

Heat transfer sets the noise floor for ultrasensitive electronics
2014-11-10
A team of engineers and scientists has identified a source of electronic noise that could affect the functioning of instruments operating at very low temperatures, such as devices used in radio telescopes and advanced physics experiments. The findings, detailed in the November 10 issue of the journal Nature Materials, could have implications for the future design of transistors and other electronic components. The electronic noise the team identified is related to the temperature of the electrons in a given device, which in turn is governed by heat transfer due to packets ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

[Press-News.org] New electron spin secrets revealed
Discovery of a novel link between magnetism and electricity may have applications in electronics.