A team of researchers based in Manchester, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and the USA has published a new review on a field of computer device development known as spintronics, which could use graphene as a building block for next-generation electronics.
Recent theoretical and experimental advances and phenomena in studies of electronic spin transport in graphene and related two-dimensional (2D) materials have emerged as a fascinating area of research and development.
Spintronics is the combination of electronics and magnetism at nanoscale and could allow electronic development at speeds exceeding Moore’s law, which observes that computer processing power roughly doubles every two years, while the price halves. Spintronic devices may offer higher energy efficiency and lower dissipation as compared to conventional electronics, which rely on charge currents. In principle, we could have phones and tablets operating with spin-based transistors and memories, greatly improving speed and storage capacity.
Since its isolation in 2004, graphene has opened the door for other 2D materials. Researchers can then use these materials to create stacks of 2D materials called heterostructures. These can be combined with graphene to create new ‘designer materials’ to produce applications originally limited to science fiction.
As published in APS Journal Review of Modern Physics, the review focuses on the new perspectives provided by heterostructures and their emergent phenomena, including proximity-enabled spin-orbit effects, coupling spin to light, electrical tunability and 2D magnetism.
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