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Nugget 7: Spintronics

Making electronic devices which utilize the spin and charge of the electron. Spintronic devices have the potential to revolutionize the electronics industry. An example is making computer chip that use base-10 computing instead of base-2 (i.e., binary). Eight spintronic devices would have 108 = 100,000,000 unique configurations, while eight electronic devices currently have 28 = 256.

Click for larger image Accomplishments: First report that atomic-scale features are important when trying to control the spin of the electron. Here we show that we can measure the spin-injection probability while simultaneously measuring the topography on the semiconductor surface. This measurement clearly illustrates that atomic-scale features can affect the spin-injection process.



Click for larger image Accomplishments: Here we illustrate the injection efficiency away from a step and above a step. Away from the step the efficiency is 92% (92% injection efficiency (IE) is highest ever reported), while over a step it is 16% (Drop to 16% near step edge demonstrates local effects).