We aim to design and control quantum phenomena in quantum matter created in nanostructures to open new doors for future computation, communication, and sensing technologies. To this end, we will elucidate the combination of magnetic, superconducting, conducting, and insulating materials in unprecedented new ways.
An electron has a spin in addition to its electric charge. The spin is the source of magnetism. The motion of the mobile charge carriers is the basis of conventional electronics and spintronics. In metals and semiconductors, electric fields induce currents. In magnetic materials, a spin current occurs naturally as well. Spin currents also appear in non-magnetic materials where the spin significantly couples to electron motion. In superconductors in contact with magnetic materials, charge and spin can flow without dissipation. In insulators, there are no moving charges. Spin information can, nevertheless, propagate. While electrons are immobile in insulators, another entity conveys information. At equilibrium, the electron spins become ordered. In response to external forces, the ordered pattern of the spins can be disturbed. The disturbance can take forms like waves, spin waves, or other and more exotic spin textures.
We focus on the fundamental challenges facing quantum spintronics. Key questions are how spin can transfer from magnetic materials to conductors and superconductors, how far and how spin propagates in insulators, conductors, and superconductors, how we can control the electron and magnon correlations that cause new states of matter, and how to detect these phenomena.
Since spin signals and new quantum entities in many of these systems have extremely low power dissipation, overcoming the limitations can enable low-power technologies such as oscillators, logic devices, non-volatile random access memories, neuromorphic computing, and quantum information processing.