New quantum dots for quantum networks

Phys.org  April 7, 2022 Spin can be also used as the medium for quantum communication by transferring quantum information with light. But the process of transferring information to the spin of extremely small electrons is challenging and must be performed efficiently. An international team of researchers (Japan, Canada, Germany) has realized the world’s first GaAs gate-controlled quantum dot circuit on a (110)-oriented surface that promises to increase photon-electron spin conversion efficiency. This has the effect of encoding quantum information from incident photons into the electron spins. Because of the way the hole interacts with the GaAs crystal lattice, the g-factor, […]

New materials for quantum technologies

Phys.org  December 22, 2021 To advance spintronics devices and quantum information technology using materials with non-trivial topological properties, three key challenges are still unresolved – the identification of topological band degeneracies located at the Fermi level, the ability to easily control such topological degeneracies., and the identification of generic topological degeneracies in large, multisheeted Fermi surfaces. Researchers in Germany have shown that the non-symmorphic symmetries in chiral, ferromagnetic manganese silicide (MnSi) generate nodal planes (NPs) which enforce topological protectorates (TPs) with substantial Berry curvatures at the intersection of the NPs with the Fermi surface (FS) regardless of the complexity of […]

Scientists successfully manipulate a single skyrmion at room temperature

Nanowerk  December 17, 2021 The key to creating spintronics devices is the ability to effectively manipulate, and measure, a single skyrmion. Researchers in Japan used a thin magnetic plate made up of a compound of cobalt, zinc, and manganese, Co9Zn9Mn2 to observe the dynamics of a single skyrmion at room temperature. They were able to track the motions of the skyrmion and control its Hall motion directions by flipping the magnetic field when they subjected it to ultrafast pulses of electric current—on the scale of nanoseconds. They found that the skyrmion’s motion demonstrated a dynamic transition from a pinned static […]

Molecular interfaces for innovative sensors and data storage devices

Nanowerk October 20, 2021 To better understand electronic and magnetic properties and understanding the mechanisms that govern the interactions at the interface an international team of researchers (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy) coupled nickel-porphyrin with copper. Using theoretical and experimental spectro-microscopy approach they showed that the charge transfer occurring at the interface between nickel tetraphenyl porphyrins and copper changes both spin and oxidation states of the Ni ion. The chemically active Ni(I), even in a buried multilayer system, can be functionalized with nitrogen dioxide, allowing a selective tuning of the electronic properties of the Ni center that is switched to a […]

Quantum material to boost terahertz frequencies

Science Daily  October 20, 2021 An international team of researchers (Germany, Spain, Russia) investigated the ultrafast carrier dynamics in topological insulators (TIs) of the bismuth and antimony chalcogenide family, where they isolated the response of Dirac fermions at the surface from the response of bulk carriers by combining photoexcitation with below-bandgap terahertz (THz) photons and TI samples with varying Fermi level, including one sample with the Fermi level located within the bandgap. They identified distinctly faster relaxation of charge carriers in the topologically protected Dirac surface states, compared to bulk carriers and they observed THz harmonic generation without any saturation […]

A new information storage and processing device

Phys.org  July 29, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – New York University, UC San Diego, France) combined the unique properties of quantum materials together with that of spintronic magnetic devices. They presented spin torque ferromagnetic resonance characteristics of a hybrid metal-insulator-transition oxide/ ferromagnetic metal nano constriction. Their samples incorporate vanadium trioxide (V2O3), with Ni, Permalloy (Ni80Fe20) and platinum layers patterned into a nano constriction geometry. The first order phase transition in V2O3 is shown to lead to systematic changes in the resonance response and hysteretic current control of the ferromagnetic resonance frequency. The output signal can be systematically […]

Future information technologies: Topological materials for ultrafast spintronics

Phys.org  July 16, 2021 To understand how fast excited electrons in the bulk and on the surface of Sb react to the external energy input, and to explore the mechanisms governing their response an international team of researchers (Germany, Russia, Ireland) used time-, spin- and angle-resolved photoemission to femtosecond-laser excitation. The data showed a ‘kink’ structure in transiently occupied energy-momentum dispersion of surface states, which can be interpreted as an increase in effective electron mass. They were able to show that this mass enhancement plays a decisive role in determining the complex interplay in the dynamical behaviors of electrons from […]

Quantum sensing: Odd angles make for strong spin-spin coupling

Science Daily  May 25, 2021 Exotic quantum vacuum phenomena are predicted in cavity quantum electrodynamics systems with ultra-strong light-matter interactions. However, such predictions have not been realized because antiresonant interactions are typically negligible compared to resonant interactions in light-matter systems. An international team of researchers (USA – Rice University, Japan, Germany, China) reports an unusual, ultra-strongly coupled matter-matter system of magnons that is analytically described by a unique Hamiltonian in which the relative importance of resonant and antiresonant interactions can be easily tuned and the latter can be made vastly dominant. They found a regime where vacuum Bloch-Siegert shifts, the […]

Concept for a new storage medium

EurekAlert  February 22, 2021 The control and understanding of antiferromagnetic domain walls are key ingredients for advancing antiferromagnetic spintronic technologies. However, studies of the intrinsic mechanics of individual antiferromagnetic domain walls are difficult because they require sufficiently pure materials and suitable experimental approaches to address domain walls on the nanoscale. An international team of researchers (Switzerland, Germany, Ukraine) nucleated isolated 180° domain walls in a single crystal of Cr2O3, a prototypical collinear magnetoelectric antiferromagnet. They studied their interaction with topographic features fabricated on the sample. They demonstrated domain wall manipulation through the resulting engineered energy landscape and showed that the […]

Old silicon learns new tricks

Science Daily  January 6, 2021 Using a combination of standard dry etching and chemical etching an international team of researchers (Japan, China) fabricated arrays of pyramid-shaped silicon nanostructures. An ultrathin layer of iron was deposited onto the silicon to impart unusual magnetic properties. The pyramids’ atomic-level orientation defined the orientation and thus the properties-of the overlaying iron. Epitaxial growth of iron enabled shape anisotropy of the nanofilm. The curve for the magnetization as a function of the magnetic field was rectangular-like shaped but with breaking points which were caused by asymmetric motion of magnetic vortex bound in pyramid apex. They […]