报告题目: Spin-orbitronics, a new direction for spintronics

　　报告人: 2007年诺贝尔物理奖获得者Albert Fert 教授 (University Paris-Sud)

　　时间: 2015年05月06日(星期三) 下午 14:30

　　地点: 中国科学院半导体研究所图书馆101室

　　Abstract: Classical spintronic devices use the exchange interaction between conduction electron spins and local spins in magnetic materials to create spin-polarized currents or to manipulate nanomagnets by spin transfer from spin-polarized currents. A novel direction of spintronics – that I call spin-orbitronics–rather exploits the spin-orbit coupling in nonmagnetic materials to generate or detect spin-polarized currents. This opens the way to spin devices made of only nonmagnetic materials and operated without magnetic fields. Spin-orbit coupling can also be used to create new types of topological magnetic objects such as the magnetic skyrmions. After a general introduction on spintronics, I will review recent advances in two directions of this field.

　　(a) Nucleation, current-induced motion and pinning of individual skyrmions: I will focus on skyrmions induced in thin magnetic films by Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions at their interface with materials of large spin-orbit coupling and I will discuss their potential for applications.

　　(b) Conversion between charge and spin current by the Spin Hall Effect and the coupling between spin and momentum in surface or interface states (Edelstein effect): I will describe recent experiments and examples of application to the fast current-induced motion of magnetic domain walls.

　　报告人简介：

　　Albert Fert graduated from école Normale Supérieure in Paris, earned his Ph.D. at University of Paris in 1970 and became Professor of Physics at University Paris-Sud in 1976. He is today Scientific Director of a joint laboratory of CNRS and company Thales, Emeritus Professor at University Paris-Sud and member of the French Academy of Sciences.

　　Research: The experimental (and theoretical) research of Professor Fert is in condensed matter physics (electronic and magnetic properties of solids, spintronics). He was one of the discoverers of the Giant Magnetoresistance in 1988, a phenomenon which is well known for its application to the hard discs and the resulting large increase of their storage capacity. This discovery has also triggered the development of the important research field which is called spintronics and sometimes defined as a new type of electronics harnessing the spin of the electrons. Professor Fert and his team have made significant contributions to the development of spintronics, in particular by works on the theory of spin transport (Valet-Fert model) and experiments on spin dependent tunneling, generation of microwaves by spin transfer, Spin Hall Effect, spin transport in carbon-based conductors and current-induced motion of domain walls or skyrmions.

　　Nobel Prize: Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg (Jülich, Germany) were awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics.

　　Other Awards and Honors: International Prize for New Materials of the American Physical Society (1994); Magnetism Award of International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (1994); Grand Prix de Physique Jean Ricard of the French Physical Society (1994); Europhysics Prize of the European Physical Society (1997); Gold Medal of the French National Scientific Research Center (CNRS) in 2003; Wolf Prize (2007); Japan Prize (2007); Honoris Causa Doctorate of a dozen of universities.