Exploiting the Spin Angular Momentum to Control Magnetism at the Nanoscale

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Speaker(s): Eric Fullerton (’84)

In most magnetic applications the orientations of the magnetic elements are controlled by external magnetic fields. However, it has recently been appreciated that the relative orientations of nano-magnets can be controlled directly by the injection of spin-polarized currents known as spin-transfer effects. This results fundamentally from the transfer of angular momentum from the spin current to the magnetic material. While this effect provides new insight into the interaction of current and magnetism, the ability of a spin-polarized current to reverse the orientation of a nanomagnets enables a range of new devices such as high performance random-access magnetic memories and spin-oscillators. In this presentation I will review the basic properties of spin-transfer and highlight recent research on spin-transfer effects in nano-elements having strong magnetic anisotropy.

Colloquium

Junior and senior physics majors attend our biweekly colloquium series, held on Tuesday afternoons at 4:30 p.m. in Shanahan B460. The talks are open to all students and to the public, and are frequently attended by scientists from the other Claremont Colleges, Cal Poly Pomona, and others. The series features speakers from a broad range of institutions and fields of physics.