Molecular spintronics – present and future

Materials for second-generation information and communication technology applications should be as small and as fast as possible. It is precisely these kind of materials that Spin+X PI Mirko Cinchetti from the Faculty of Physics at TU Dortmund and his colleagues Alek Dediu from the Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati in Bologna, Italy, and Luis E. Hueso from CIC nanoGUNE in San Sebastian, Spain, are seeking for. In a progress article published in Nature Materials, the three experts in molecular spintronics give an overview of the developments in this relatively new research field.

The physicists focus on the extremely intriguing magnetic properties of interfaces that are formed when organic molecules are put in contact with inorganic metal surfaces. They argue that one of the main challenges in the discipline is to control these magnetic properties using, for example, voltages or light, and suggest a second-generation spintronics device based precisely on such actively controlled interfaces.

"Spintronics has only been working with molecules since 2004, so there still remains a lot to do for us. The molecules offer plenty of possibilities for applications: for example, they can induce ferromagnetism in copper. If we will be able to use the extreme flexibility of molecules to control such emergent phenomena, molecular interfaces may play a crucial role in the development of a new generation of spin-based technologies" explains Mirko Cinchetti.

Central parts of the research performed by Prof. Cinchetti were carried out within the framework of the collaborative research center of the German Research Foundation SFB/TRR 173 Spin+X, as well as the State Research Center OPTIMAS of the University of Kaiserslautern.
 

Link to article in Nature Materials:
www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v16/n5/full/nmat4902.html

Contact:
Prof. Mirko Cinchetti
Faculty of Physics
Phone: 0231-755 5438
E-Mail: mirko.cinchetti[at]tu-dortmund.de