Condensed Matter Seminar Series
Spintronics: Exploiting the Electron's Other Degree of Freedom
Mark Stiles
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Thursday November 18, 11h00 am, Room 234, Physics Building
Host: Albert Chang
Abstract: Conventional electronic devices exploit the charge of the electron.
Recently, devices have started to exploit the electron's spin. A
particular success is the read head used in high-density magnetic
recording, where only ten years passed between the basic laboratory
discovery and its application in commercial devices. In this talk, I
survey the basic physics of spintronics in metallic systems, where
most applications have been made. The basic ingredients are
newly-discovered and non-classical effects of magnetism on current
flow and of current flow on magnetism. This latter effect can lead
to current-induced magnetization reversal and high frequency
precession.