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Electric control of a spin current has potential for low-power computing

The development of low-power methods for controlling a property of electrons known as spin could help to maintain the historic rates of progress that are occurring in computational power. Just such a method has now been reported.
  1. Stefano Gariglio

    1. Stefano Gariglio is in the Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva, Geneva CH-1211, Switzerland.

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A promising technology for the next generation of computers is spintronics, a type of electronics that depends on the spin — the intrinsic angular momentum — of electrons, rather than their charge. However, available methods for controlling spin require electric currents that are too large for practical applications. In a paper in Nature, Noël et al.1 report an approach that allows low-power spin control using an electric field.

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Nature 580, 458-459 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01099-w

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