Spintronics-Info - Spintronics Industry Portal

TU/e researchers launch uniCISS project to decode chiral-induced spin selectivity using AI

Roni Peleg — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers Shuxia Tao (Department of Applied Physics) and Björn Baumeier (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science) at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) have been awarded funding by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to tackle one of spintronics' most persistent open questions: Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS).

The five-year project, named uniCISS, targets the CISS effect - a phenomenon observed for over two decades in which electrons traveling through chiral (spiral-structured) materials are selectively filtered by their quantum spin state. Despite its well-documented experimental occurrence, no complete theoretical framework has been established to explain the underlying mechanism, making deliberate materials engineering around the effect largely impossible.

Predictive synthesis framework boosts chiral perovskite performance for next-gen spintronics

Roni Peleg — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 16:04:27 +0300

Researchers from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, International Kazakh-Turkish University, University of California and Argonne National Laboratory have introduced a predictive synthesis framework to boost the spin-relevant performance of chiral 2D metal halide perovskites (MHPs) for next-generation spintronics. Chiral 2D MHPs are promising materials for spin-optoelectronic devices that exploit the electron’s spin degree of freedom, yet their chiroptical response, quantified by the absorption dissymmetry factor (g_abs), has shown large variability and poor reproducibility. This has hindered the rational design of reliable spintronic components such as circularly polarized LEDs, photodetectors, and spin filters.

To tackle this challenge, the team built a data-driven framework that directly links synthesis “knobs” to chiroptical properties. Using Pearson’s correlation, ANOVA, and Gaussian process regression, they systematically evaluated how solvent choice, annealing temperature, film thickness, and other structural and morphological factors influence g_abs. The analysis reveals solvent choice as the primary driver of variability: acetonitrile (ACN)-processed films consistently exhibit higher and more reproducible g_abs values than films fabricated from dimethylformamide (DMF) or ACN:dimethyl sulfoxide (ACN:DMSO) mixtures. For ACN-based films, the model identifies specific annealing temperature and thickness ranges that maximize g_abs, providing a clear processing playbook instead of ad hoc optimization.

SOT-based spintronic platform for unified key generation and intrinsic attack detection

Roni Peleg — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Hubei University have developed a spin-orbit torque (SOT)-based key generation system that unifies cryptographic key generation, concealment, and attack detection within a single spintronic device platform. By combining physically unclonable function (PUF) behavior with true random number generator (TRNG) functionality, the approach introduces a hardware-rooted security primitive in which key access is intrinsically tied to irreversible physical transformations.

At the core of the system are Ta/CoFeB/MgO/Ta spintronic Hall devices, which simultaneously host two complementary entropy sources. Dynamic entropy arises from stochastic magnetization switching under zero-field conditions, enabling true random number generation. In parallel, static entropy originates from device-to-device variations in the critical switching current caused by fabrication process deviations, allowing the extraction of unique and reproducible cryptographic keys. By applying different excitation conditions, the same physical device can switch between these two modes, generating either random numbers or device-specific keys on demand.

Electrically tunable spin polarization in graphene superlattices

Roni Peleg — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from the National University of Singapore, University of Manchester and National Institute for Materials Science have shown that magnetic proximity can be used to electrically control large spin signals in graphene superlattices, achieving spin polarizations approaching 50% and nonlocal spin resistances above 300 Ω near charge neutrality.

By placing graphene in close proximity to a magnetic material, they induce a magnetic proximity effect that spin-splits graphene’s bands via interfacial exchange coupling, without permanently magnetizing the carbon lattice or degrading its intrinsic transport properties. In their devices, cobalt contacts are used to generate this exchange field, while pure spin currents are injected and detected nonlocally, allowing the team to map how spin transport responds as the Fermi level is tuned across different charge density regimes.

Researchers demonstrate excitonic spin torque in 2D magnetic semiconductor CrSBr

Roni Peleg — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 11:59:39 +0300

Researchers from Cornell University, together with collaborators from Columbia University and the University of Delaware, have demonstrated excitonic spin torque in the 2D magnetic semiconductor CrSBr. The work shows that excitons generated by light can directly drive and control magnetization dynamics, rather than only probing them, and establishes a new optical pathway to manipulate spins in magnetic semiconductors.

In the study, the team used ultrafast pump-probe measurements on the van der Waals antiferromagnet CrSBr. A short laser pulse creates a reservoir of tightly bound excitons in the material, and this exciton population exerts a spin torque on the underlying antiferromagnetic order. The torque has both damping-like and anti-damping-like components and drives the spins along a non-trivial trajectory on the magnetic energy landscape.

CMOS-integrated spintronic p-bit demonstrated on silicon chip

Roni Peleg — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from Tohoku University and NIST have demonstrated a CMOS-integrated spintronic probabilistic bit (p-bit), marking a significant step toward scalable probabilistic computing hardware. The work experimentally validates a key building block for p-computers by combining superparamagnetic tunnel junctions (sMTJs) with a standard 130 nm CMOS process, enabling stochastic operation directly on a silicon chip.

(a) Photograph of test chips fabricated on a silicon substrate using semiconductor integrated circuit manufacturing processes. (b) Schematic cross-sectional structure of the spintronic p-bit. Transistors and lower interconnect layers were fabricated at SkyWater Technology, followed by fabrication of the spintronic devices at the Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University. (c,d) Cross-sectional and plan-view electron microscope images of the spintronic device designed to exhibit stochastic fluctuations. Image from: Tohoku University website

Probabilistic computing targets problems that require efficient exploration of vast solution spaces, such as combinatorial optimization and machine learning. Unlike conventional binary systems, which process deterministic 0 or 1 states, p-bits fluctuate continuously between these states. This stochastic behavior allows p-computers to sample many configurations in parallel, making them well suited for complex optimization tasks.

Quantum Design acquires Qnami, strengthening quantum sensing tools for spintronics research

Roni Peleg — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 10:36:29 +0300

Quantum Design International has acquired Qnami, a Swiss company specializing in diamond-based quantum sensing and scanning probe microscopy technologies. The deal is aimed at expanding Quantum Design’s portfolio for quantum materials, nanomagnetism, spintronics, semiconductors, and advanced device characterization.

Qnami develops nitrogen-vacancy (NV) diamond-based scanning probe systems and components that enable nanoscale magnetic imaging and precision field sensing, tools that are increasingly used in spintronics and quantum materials research. According to the companies, the combined organization will focus on advancing Qnami’s existing SPM platforms and quantum sensing components while exploring new opportunities in academic labs, national facilities, and industrial R&D.

ORNL team detecs altermagnetism in hematite

Roni Peleg — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) have discovered hematite, essentially rust, can help design energy-efficient spintronics.

The team’s findings confirmed a key signature of altermagnetism (a new type of magnetism discovered in 2022) in hematite. Altermagnets are magnetic materials in which electron spins align in opposite directions, allowing pure spin currents to flow without a net electric charge - ideal conditions for spintronics. The team measured spin waves, which move through a material's magnetic order similar to how sound waves move through air. They discovered that these waves show a clear separation in energy, a unique signature that confirms the material's altermagnetic nature.

University of Minnesota launches spintronics innovation hub for next-generation quantum devices

Roni Peleg — Thu, 28 May 2026 06:00:00 +0300

The University of Minnesota Twin Cities, in collaboration with Polar Semiconductor and Honeywell Aerospace, is establishing a first-of-its-kind academic-industry Spin Technology Center to advance the state’s growing microelectronics and semiconductor industry. The $5.7 million project has been awarded $2.83 million from the Minnesota Forward Fund administered by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, with an additional $2.8 million in matching funding from industry partners Polar Semiconductor and Honeywell Aerospace.

The new center will develop quantum spintronic devices focusing on high-tech magnetic sensors and advanced memory storage. These devices are being adapted for cutting-edge applications, including biomedical devices, industrial automation, automotive applications and specialized technologies designed for extreme environments like space.

Picosecond ultralow-power switching in an antiferromagnetic Mn₃Sn device

Roni Peleg — Tue, 26 May 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from the University of Tokyo, RIKEN and Tokyo Metropolitan University have demonstrated an ultrafast, energy-efficient nonvolatile switching device based on antiferromagnetic Mn₃Sn, achieving reliable operation in the picosecond regime with dramatically reduced power consumption.

The device is built on Mn₃Sn/tantalum heterostructures and utilizes spin–orbit torque (SOT) to switch the magnetic state using electrical pulses as short as 40 picoseconds. This represents a roughly 1,000× speed improvement over conventional nanosecond-scale switching, which has long been a practical limit in current CPU and GPU technologies due to rapidly increasing energy demands at higher speeds.

Spin-dependent isotopic fractionation of L-methionine on magnetized surfaces

Roni Peleg — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:07:24 +0300

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Weizmann Institute of Science recently demonstrated that the direction of a magnetic field can influence the isotopic fractionation of a chiral biomolecule, establishing a clear experimental link between electron spin, molecular chirality, and isotope-dependent behavior on magnetized surfaces.

The study focuses on L-methionine, a chiral amino acid, and examines how molecules containing different carbon isotopes - ¹²C and ¹³C - interact with magnetized surfaces. While isotopic fractionation is widely used to trace biochemical pathways, the mechanisms governing isotope selectivity in chiral systems have remained poorly understood.

Terahertz-driven chiral phonons reveal angular momentum conservation in solids

Roni Peleg — Sun, 24 May 2026 16:12:43 +0300

A team of researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, and additional collaborators in Berlin, Dresden, Jülich, and Eindhoven have experimentally demonstrated and coherently controlled the transfer of angular momentum between lattice vibrations, providing the first direct observation of how this conserved quantity propagates through a crystal lattice.

In solids, the exchange of energy and linear momentum between phonons via anharmonic coupling is well established. However, tracking angular momentum transfer between lattice modes has remained elusive, despite its central role in magnetization dynamics and spin relaxation phenomena such as the Einstein–de Haas effect. The present work closes this gap by directly resolving how quantized crystal angular momentum is redistributed between coupled vibrational modes.

Graphene enables spin-preserving ballistic electron transport for future spintronics

Roni Peleg — Mon, 11 May 2026 06:00:00 +0300

University of Manchester researchers have shown that electrons in ultra-clean graphene can be steered with high precision while keeping their spin information intact, a key requirement for future low power electronics and quantum devices.

The team demonstrates how electrons can travel ballistically, i.e. without experiencing any scattering or resistance, over micrometer distances in graphene at low temperature and maintain spin coherence all the way up to room temperature. By using a technique known as transverse magnetic focusing (TMF), they were able to bend electron trajectories like light rays traversing a lens and show that these curved paths carry a clear spin signature.

Near-zero-field molecular magnet emerges as a room-temperature spintronics platform

Roni Peleg — Fri, 08 May 2026 06:00:00 +0300

An international research team led by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has developed a new magnetic material that combines a robust internal magnetic structure with an almost vanishing external magnetic field, and it maintains these properties well above room temperature.

The material is the molecular framework Cr(pyrazine)₃, a three-dimensional cubic ReO₃‑type structure in which Cr³⁺ ions are bridged exclusively by pyrazine radical anions. In this architecture, the chromium centers and the pyrazine radicals form two magnetic sublattices whose moments are strongly antiferromagnetically coupled, giving rise to a nearly perfectly compensated ferrimagnetic ground state with an exceptionally small net magnetic moment.

Robust ML framework speeds up Fermi surface screening for spintronic Heusler alloys

Roni Peleg — Tue, 05 May 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from the Tokyo University of Science, Kyoto Institute of Technology, University of Tsukuba and National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have developed an interpretable machine-learning framework that automatically detects anomalies in Fermi surface maps of the spintronic Heusler alloy Co₂MnGaₓGe₁₋ₓ (CMGG). The approach uses principal component analysis (PCA) on simulated Fermi-surface images to pinpoint compositions where the electronic structure changes sharply, and links these anomalies directly to nodal-line formation and variations in spin polarization.

In this work, the team focuses on CMGG, a Heusler alloy with half-metallicity, nodal-line features and high spin polarization, known for its anomalous Nernst effect arising from nodal lines on the Fermi surface. Using density functional theory (DFT), they first generate a composition-dependent band-structure dataset and extract kₓ–kᵧ Fermi-surface cuts through the Γ point. These images are blurred to roughly approximate ARPES data, then converted into one-dimensional vectors and analyzed via PCA to obtain a low-dimensional representation where each point corresponds to a specific Ga content x.

Why life prefers one molecular “hand” - electron spin in chiral transport

Roni Peleg — Mon, 04 May 2026 11:34:40 +0300

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Southern California, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz, Ariel University, California Institute of Technology, Uppsala University and the Weizmann Institute have reported a spin-dependent mechanism that may resolve one of the longest-standing questions in science: not only how homochirality emerged, but why a specific handedness was selected.

For more than 150 years, scientists have sought to understand why biological systems exclusively use one enantiomeric form - D-type for RNA and specific handedness for amino acids - despite the near-identical chemical properties of mirror-image molecules. Previous work established that homochirality could arise via enantioselective interactions with magnetic substrates, such as magnetite, through the chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. However, this framework did not explain why one enantiomer is ultimately favored over the other.

Ultrafast spin transfer in Fe/CoO bilayers observed within 300 fs

Roni Peleg — Sun, 03 May 2026 16:04:44 +0300

Researchers from Freie Universität Berlin, Uppsala University and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) have directly tracked how magnetic order in a coupled Fe/CoO bilayer collapses within a few hundred femtoseconds after an ultrashort laser pulse, and identified interfacial energy transfer from Fe to CoO as the key channel for quenching the antiferromagnetic order.

The sample consists of an epitaxial 9 (±0.5) monolayer CoO film on Ag(001), capped by 9 (±1) monolayers of Fe. The CoO antiferromagnetic moments are collinear in the film plane and aligned with the Fe magnetization along an Fe ⟨100⟩ easy axis due to strong interfacial coupling; an external magnetic field can rotate this AFM spin axis by 90° in the plane via the Fe layer. Time-resolved measurements were carried out at BESSY II using 60 fs p‑polarized pump pulses at 800 or 400 nm and 100 fs polarized soft x‑ray probe pulses, providing 120 fs temporal resolution in a pump–probe reflection geometry under ultrahigh vacuum at 200 K and a 120 mT in‑plane field.

New method enables precise and rapid switching of the helicity of magnetic vortices

Roni Peleg — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:41:33 +0300

Researchers from Nankai University, South China Normal University and additional institutes have introduced a new approach to precisely and rapidly switch the helicity of magnetic vortices.

Their novel method involves the use of extremely short laser pulses and a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the surface of a nano-engineered material. As part of their study, the researchers first engineered tiny magnetic vortices in a magnetic material made up of 80% of nickel (Ni) and 20% iron (Fe). This magnetic alloy is promising for the development of spintronics as it possesses advantageous magnetic properties.

Microchip Technology and EverSpin sign 10-year agreement

Roni Peleg — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 08:47:23 +0300

Everspin Technologies has announced a strategic manufacturing agreement with Microchip Technology to expand on-shore production of its MRAM and tunnel magnetoresistive (TMR) sensor products. The initial 10-year deal, which can be extended in two-year increments, will see Everspin establish a copy exact (plus) MRAM line at a Microchip semiconductor fabrication facility in Oregon, mirroring its existing line in Chandler, Arizona.

Under the agreement, Everspin will transfer its magnetic technology and MRAM manufacturing process into Microchip’s Oregon fab while retaining ownership of its spintronic IP and process know-how, using Microchip’s foundry capacity to scale output. This added line is designed to increase wafer capacity for MRAM and TMR devices, provide a fully on-shore second source, and support long-term supply continuity for spintronics-based non-volatile memory and sensor products well into the next decade.

Interfacial Ising superconductivity in a graphene‑capped gallium trilayer for potential spintronics applications

Roni Peleg — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 08:29:25 +0300

Researchers from Penn State, University of Oxford, Zhejiang University, Diamond Light Source and the University of North Texas have engineered an atomically confined gallium trilayer between graphene and silicon carbide that hosts robust Ising‑type superconductivity under strong in‑plane magnetic fields. This interface‑driven superconducting state in a light‑element heterostructure opens intriguing opportunities for integrating superconductivity with spin‑based functionalities in future spintronics devices.

The device consists of just three atomic layers of gallium sandwiched between a graphene overlayer and a 6H‑SiC(0001) substrate, grown using plasma‑free confinement epitaxy assisted by a carbon buffer layer. Within this ultra‑thin “quantum well,” superconductivity emerges at low temperatures, while the graphene capping layer protects the gallium from oxidation and contamination and the SiC substrate provides a structurally and electronically active interface. The result is a clean, strongly confined 2D superconducting channel whose properties are dominated by interfacial quantum interactions.

Low-current spintronic Kapitza pendulum enables probabilistic magnetic states

Roni Peleg — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from University College London, University of Leeds, Tohoku University, Imperial College London and Japan Atomic Energy Agency have demonstrated that spin transfer torques in nearly isotropic CoFeB-based magnets can dynamically stabilize magnetic states that are unstable in equilibrium, realizing a nanoscale spintronic analogue of the Kapitza pendulum.

The team uses MgO∣CoFeB∣W multilayers, where the demagnetizing field favors in-plane magnetization while an interface-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), tuned by post-growth annealing, counter-balances this tendency. By carefully optimizing the growth-annealing protocol, the shape and interface anisotropies almost cancel, yielding magnets with vanishingly small effective anisotropy that are nearly isotropic on the Bloch sphere. This near-isotropy is crucial because it suppresses conventional auto-oscillations and lowers the critical current needed to drive the system into a strongly nonlinear dynamical regime.

Novel spintronic device can store data in four stable states

Roni Peleg — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from the University of Maryland, University of California, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, East China Normal University, KAUST and other institutes recently reported all‑van der Waals multiferroic tunnel junctions (MFTJs) that combine ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in a single nanoscale spintronic device, enabling four non‑volatile resistance states for multibit memory operation.

These multistate junctions are realized by vertically stacking three atomically thin crystals: two ferromagnetic electrodes and a ferroelectric tunnelling barrier, all obtained by mechanical exfoliation and then assembled into a clean, defect‑sparse heterostructure. In their prototypical structure, Fe₃GeTe₂/CuInP₂S₆/Fe₃GeTe₂, multilayer Fe₃GeTe₂ serves as the ferromagnetic electrodes, while CuInP₂S₆ (CIPS) provides a ferroelectric spacer with switchable polarization. Because the layers are coupled by van der Waals forces rather than epitaxial bonding, the stack avoids stringent lattice‑matching and chemical‑compatibility constraints that hinder oxide‑based MFTJs and is far less susceptible to interfacial defects and interdiffusion.

Researchers tune skyrmion textures in 2D Fe3GeTe2 by thickness and field

Roni Peleg — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:43:01 +0300

A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, Northwestern University, the University of Edinburgh, the Donostia International Physics Center and the University of Arkansas has revealed how magnetic domains behave inside 2D van der Waals magnets based on Fe₃GeTe₂(FGT), providing a roadmap for tuning skyrmions using material thickness and magnetic‑field conditions.

The researchers worked with a thin, layered FGT flake whose thickness changed gradually across the sample, creating regions that behave differently magnetically while still being part of the same crystal. Because FGT in this study is magnetic only at low temperature, the flake was cooled with liquid nitrogen to cryogenic temperatures while an out‑of‑plane magnetic field was applied (field cooling), setting up well‑defined initial domain patterns.

Researchers demonstrate coherence transfer from THz magnons to charges in NiO

Roni Peleg — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0300

Researchers from the University of Konstanz, Institute of Science Tokyo and TU Dortmund University recently demonstrated that coherent terahertz (THz) magnons can transfer their coherence to electronic charges in the insulating antiferromagnet NiO, providing a crucial step toward energy‑efficient, THz‑speed spintronic devices compatible with CMOS technology. The core idea is that optically driven THz spin waves imprint a coherent, charge‑dominated signal onto the material’s optical response, realizing a spin‑to‑charge conversion stage mediated by light.

Collective spin excitations - magnons, i.e., quantized spin waves of large spin ensembles - naturally operate in the THz range and promise low‑loss information transfer, but integrating them with conventional electronics requires converting their spin signal into an electrical one. In this work, the team uses NiO as a prototypical dielectric antiferromagnet and excites coherent THz magnons with femtosecond laser pulses whose photon energy lies below the 4 eV bandgap, so that the primary excitation channel addresses the spin system rather than creating a dense electron–hole plasma.

Researchers uncover self-induced Floquet states in nanoscale magnetic whirlpools

Roni Peleg — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:43:34 +0300

Researchers from Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, CNRS AND Radboud University recently demonstrated that tiny magnetic vortices can host self-induced Floquet states driven purely by internal magnon dynamics, without the need for high-power laser fields. By periodically modulating the vortex core with low-power microwave excitation, they engineer Floquet bands in the magnon spectrum and observe clear frequency-comb signatures in nanometer-scale magnetic disks.

Floquet engineering uses a periodic drive to create effective Hamiltonians and band structures that do not exist in equilibrium, enabling exotic states and modified spin interactions. In this work, the periodic drive is not an external optical field but arises from internal modes of a magnetic vortex in an ultrathin disk, where the magnetization curls in-plane and forms a nanoscale vortex core with out-of-plane orientation. When microwave magnons are driven strongly enough, nonlinear coupling transfers energy into a circular gyration of the vortex core, which then acts as a time-periodic perturbation that renormalizes the magnon band structure.

Merging magnetism and superconductivity could enable loss‑free spin flow

Roni Peleg — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:23:10 +0200

Researchers from the University of British Columbia, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research and University of Nevada have proposed a new class of quantum materials - superconducting altermagnets - that could carry persistent spin-polarized currents with zero dissipation, marking a potential breakthrough in superconducting spintronics.

The team's theoretical study shows how these materials can host spin supercurrents that remain stable even in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and magnetic disorder - conditions that usually extinguish spin transport in normal metals.

Recent spintronics research and industry news - March 2026

Ron Mertens — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:39:21 +0200

Here are some recent and popular spintronics industry and research news that you may find of interest:

Spin-controlled photon emission in 2D perovskites enables quantum communication

Roni Peleg — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 12:46:04 +0200

A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill research team has demonstrated a novel way to encode quantum information directly within the light produced by two-dimensional perovskites - opening a potential path to simpler, more efficient quantum communication systems. The study explores how spin dynamics in two-dimensional organic–inorganic hybrid perovskite (2D-OIHP) quantum wells can generate polarization-encoded photons suitable for secure communication protocols.

Two-dimensional perovskites are well known for their performance in light-emitting and photovoltaic devices, but the UNC team, led by Professor Andrew Moran, has shown they can also act as microscopic light sources whose intrinsic exciton spin behavior defines the polarization of emitted photons. When ultrafast laser pulses excite the material, they generate pairs of bound charge carriers - excitons - whose spins determine the polarization of emitted light.

Wafer-scale MoS₂ cuts surface damping in permalloy spintronic films

Roni Peleg — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 13:04:04 +0200

Researchers from The University of Manchester have discovered that interfacing magnetic thin films with atomically thin molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) fundamentally alters how these films dissipate energy - a step toward practical, wafer‑scale 2D spintronic devices.

Using ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectroscopy, the team investigated spin pumping and damping mechanisms in large‑area transition‑metal dichalcogenide (TMD)-ferromagnet heterostructures, specifically MoS₂–Ni₀.₈Fe₀.₂ bilayers with varying ferromagnetic thickness. The MoS₂ was grown using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), an industry‑compatible approach that allows uniform monolayer and bilayer coverage across wafer‑scale samples.

Researchers demonstrate all-optical switching of spin–valley ferromagnetism in twisted MoTe₂

Roni Peleg — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0200

Researchers from ETH Zürich, University of Washington, University of Basel and National Institute for Materials Science have demonstrated all-optical control over the spin-valley polarization in twisted molybdenum ditelluride (t‑MoTe₂) homobilayers - a step toward dynamically reconfigurable quantum materials and optically defined topological circuits. The work shows how circularly polarized light can reversibly switch the magnetic orientation of a strongly correlated ferromagnetic state, all without changing the sample temperature.

The experiments, led by Prof. Ataç Imamoğlu (ETH Zürich), Prof. Tomasz Smoleński (University of Basel), and colleagues, exploit a system where two atomically thin MoTe₂ layers are stacked with a small twist angle. This twist creates a moiré superlattice with flat, valley‑contrasting Chern bands, giving rise to highly correlated quantum phases - including Chern insulators and ferromagnetic metals - depending on the electron filling. Because the electronic bands are nearly dispersionless, electron-electron interactions dominate, resulting in spontaneous spin alignment even at cryogenic but steady temperatures.