Cambridge scientists announce breakthrough in spintronics

A breakthrough in the field of spintronics, or 'spin' technology, has been announced following research led by Dr Jason Robinson, Fellow of St John's College and University Royal Society Research Fellow in the Department of Materials Sciences. The findings of this research could potentially revolutionise the future of large-scale computing by making it much more energy-efficient.

This study demonstrates for the first time that superconductors can be used to power spintronics, therefore opening up an emerging field known as superconducting spintronics. Spintronics – technology which is already being used in devices such as hard drive readers – exploits the spin property in electrons to perform logic operations, but requires a large spin current to operate and a large input charge, much of which is wasted as heat. Superconductors, on the other hand, are 100% energy-efficient with no energy wastage.

These findings are ground-breaking as superconductivity and spintronics were previously considered by scientists to be incompatible. In the study, however, Robinson shows that the spin of electrons can be manipulated and detected within the current flowing from a superconductor. The demonstration of a marriage between the two potentially paves the way for superconductors to be integrated into spin-based circuits, making these devices much more energy-efficient.

"At the moment, high-performance computers such as those used in large-scale data handling facilities such as e-data centres waste huge amounts of energy," says Robinson. "If we could combine spintronics with superconductivity, we would be able to take advantage of the benefits that both areas offer to reduce this."

Read more about this research on the University of Cambridge website.