Spintronics gets new materials

It turns out that electrical insulator yttrium iron garnet (YIG) is also a great conductor of spin current. The material also possesses non-linear transport properties when the current exceeds a certain threshold. Researchers from INAC worked with three other teams* to demonstrate the material’s capabilities, measuring spin conductance between two platinum wires on a thin layer of YIG. A patent on the material’s non-linear properties will soon be filed to protect further developments.

The findings of the research confirm that spintronics, which has been highly focused on metals, can now be expanded to magnetic materials that are also electrical insulators and, especially, metal oxides. The downside is that the metal oxides must be in monocrystalline form obtained by epitaxial growth, a process that is both complex and costly.

Contact: olivier.klein@cea.fr

*Brest University, IRAMIS, CNRS-Thales Joint Research Unit

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