Researchers at the University of Groningen and the FOM Foundation have succeeded by using a heat flow of the magnetic moment of a magnet to transfer to another non-magnetic metal. Transporting a magnetic spin can be used to convey information. This discovery may also lead to more efficient storage devices for example, modern solid-state hard drives of a computer. The researchers published their results in prestigious journals Nature Physics and Physical Review Letters.
The electrical recording memory elements generates a considerable amount of heat, an undesirable side effect. Researchers Abraham Butcher, Frank Baker and Jean-Paul Adam of the group of FOM group leader Bart van Wees have now shown that this heat can be also useful. This new heat effect cleverly together to work together with the present technique for describing memory elements, the efficiency of this process could significantly improve the researchers.
Spin
The magnetic moment of an electron, the "spin", is the basis of magnetic data storage. In all these ways ferromagnets spins the same direction and together they form the magnetization of the magnet. The data is written to magnetic fields, the 'bits'.Within such a domain, all the spins either up (a) or down (zero) oriented. A relatively new and promising technique involves the exchange of spins between two magnetic layers for describing and reading the memory elements. In current technology, this is done by using electric current. This fully electrically writable memory cells are also known as MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory) and based on the spin-torque effect.
The study
The researchers now show that it is possible to heat flow spins to exchange and thus an MRAM cell to describe. Their first experiment was designed to get more information about the heat released in memory elements. They demonstrate that heat flows a large effect on the electrical signals used for reading these memory elements.In addition, they show that the heat profile is 'read out' by thermoelectric measurements. In the second experiment, they show that, by heating a magnet, spins can extract and transport it to a non-magnetic material. The heat effect appears large enough to be used to describe the memory elements in MRAM, and so instead of or in addition to the electrical current used.
Spin-caloritronica
The now published results are at the cradle of the spin-caloritronica ', a new research area within the spin-electronics, the role of the magnetic moment of electrons in the heat transfer studies. This research was partly funded by the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter, EU project Dynamax, NanoNed and the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials
The electrical recording memory elements generates a considerable amount of heat, an undesirable side effect. Researchers Abraham Butcher, Frank Baker and Jean-Paul Adam of the group of FOM group leader Bart van Wees have now shown that this heat can be also useful. This new heat effect cleverly together to work together with the present technique for describing memory elements, the efficiency of this process could significantly improve the researchers.
Spin
The magnetic moment of an electron, the "spin", is the basis of magnetic data storage. In all these ways ferromagnets spins the same direction and together they form the magnetization of the magnet. The data is written to magnetic fields, the 'bits'.Within such a domain, all the spins either up (a) or down (zero) oriented. A relatively new and promising technique involves the exchange of spins between two magnetic layers for describing and reading the memory elements. In current technology, this is done by using electric current. This fully electrically writable memory cells are also known as MRAM (Magnetic Random Access Memory) and based on the spin-torque effect.
The study
The researchers now show that it is possible to heat flow spins to exchange and thus an MRAM cell to describe. Their first experiment was designed to get more information about the heat released in memory elements. They demonstrate that heat flows a large effect on the electrical signals used for reading these memory elements.In addition, they show that the heat profile is 'read out' by thermoelectric measurements. In the second experiment, they show that, by heating a magnet, spins can extract and transport it to a non-magnetic material. The heat effect appears large enough to be used to describe the memory elements in MRAM, and so instead of or in addition to the electrical current used.
Spin-caloritronica
The now published results are at the cradle of the spin-caloritronica ', a new research area within the spin-electronics, the role of the magnetic moment of electrons in the heat transfer studies. This research was partly funded by the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter, EU project Dynamax, NanoNed and the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials
Referenties
[1] ‘Interplay of Peltier and Seebeck effects in nanoscale nonlocal spin valves', Physical Review Letters 2010
[2] ‘Thermally driven spin injection from a ferromagnetic into a non-magnetic metal', Nature Physics 2010
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