Van der Waals (vdW) layered magnets are promising materials to develop ultracompact and multifunctional spintronics devices. However, most of them are magnetic only at low temperature and are almost exclusively studied in the form of small flakes obtained by mechanical exfoliation. Here, we demonstrate the direct growth by molecular beam epitaxy of Fe5GeTe2, a room […]

Magnetic Random Access Memory recently started to be commercialized by all main microelectronics factories. In MRAM, the information is coded via parallel or antiparallel magnetic configurations to represent ones and zeroes. The technology is intrinsically nonvolatile, meaning it can keep information without being electrically powered. However, nonvolatility often comes with a trade-off between the information […]

We present a new type of biocompatible surface-functionalized magnetic microparticles for cancer cells destruction. The magnetite particles, covered with polyethylene glycol molecules, are shown to favor cell-death via apoptosis when set into vibrations by alternating magnetic field.   A team from SPINTEC, in collaboration with researchers from SyMMES, has recently developed a new type of […]

The broken inversion symmetry of some semiconductors may allow for spin–charge interconversion, but its control by electric fields is volatile. This has led to interest in ferroelectric Rashba semiconductors, which combine semiconductivity, large spin–orbit coupling and non-volatility. Here we report room-temperature, non-volatile ferroelectric control of spin-to-charge conversion in epitaxial germanium telluride films. Spintronics could potentially […]

Significant Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMI) and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) at interfaces comprising hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and cobalt (Co) remaining stable over a large range of Co film thickness are reported. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that that such significant DMI and PMA give rise to the formation of skyrmions with small applied external fields. Interfacial […]

Neuromorphic computing is a bio-inspired technology which aims at mimicking the brain working principles. It can be used for fast and energy-efficient applications through the implementation of networks of artificial neurons and synapses. Artificial synapses are implemented as electronic components called memristors. These are non-volatile memory devices whose resistance can take several intermediate values between […]

Using the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), we study the short-range propagation distance of thermally-induced spin currents inside insulator magnetic thin film. We find the spin diffusion length of thermal magnons (magnons carrying quanta of energy, kBT) is is in submicron range.   The vision of spintronics is to use the spin of an electron rather […]

Researchers at SPINTEC Grenoble, in collaboration with PHELIQS & CIME Grenoble and LOMA Bordeaux, demonstrated how the superconducting proximity effect can be used to evaluate the penetration of Cooper pairs in metallic antiferromagnets. These findings represent a stimulating example of how antiferromagnets and superconductors may envision a common future by showing how to infer essential […]

This study investigates heavy-ion irradiation effects on Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetic Tunnel Junction devices (p-STT-MTJs). The radiative campaign took place at the Cyclotron Resource Centre of Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL).   Designers of space systems have to deal with ensuring complex data processing, while obtaining, at the same time, a proper level […]

We have conducted time-resolved stroboscopic imaging of the magnetization dynamics in cylindrical nanowires subject to nanosecond pulses of electric current. These confirm the dramatic impact of the Œrsted field in the cylindrical geometry. Through a thorough quantitative analysis, we extract features during the pulse of current, such as the azimuthal component of magnetization in magnetic […]