IBM
Scientists "Waltz" Closer to Using Spintronics in Computing
* IBM
Research is the first to synchronize electron spins and image the formation of
a persistent spin helix.
*
Spintronics could enable a new class of magnetic-based semiconductor
transistors resulting in more energy efficient electronic devices.
ZURICH - 12
Aug 2012: Aiming to use electron spins for storing, transporting and processing
information, researchers from IBM (NYSE:IBM) and scientists at ETH Zurich, a
leading European university, today revealed the first-ever direct mapping of
the formation of a persistent spin helix in a semiconductor.
Until now,
it was unclear whether or not electron spins possessed the capability to
preserve the encoded information long enough before rotating. Unveiled in the
peer-reviewed journal Nature Physics, scientists from IBM Research and the
Solid State Physics Laboratory at ETH Zurich demonstrated that synchronizing
electrons extends the spin lifetime of the electron by 30 times to 1.1
nanoseconds -- the same time it takes for an existing 1 GHz processor to cycle.