Spintronics is a portmanteau word that refers to the utilization of spin, rather than charge, in electronic devices. In order for spins to be used in this way, the spin-up and spin-down states in a material have to be separated in energy, and, like for conventional electronics, the material should be ambipolar, meaning both negative (electron) and positive (hole) charges have to conduct.
To meet these criteria in a single material, researchers have focused on doped semiconductors, but they have been limited to working with very pure samples or at temperatures far below those considered technologically relevant. In Physical Review Letters, Alberto Crepaldi, at the Swiss Federal Institute in Lausanne, and colleagues propose a surface science approach to selecting for a particular spin state in crystalline