Magnetism and magnetic phenomena in bulk ferromagnetic materials are generally well understood in physical terms. In contrast, in nanoscale thin-films and multilayered ferromagnetic/non-magnetic systems a range of exciting, non-trivial and potentially useful physics has emerged that is associated with the interfacing between ferromagnetic and non-magnetic materials. This is exemplified by giant magnetoresistance (GMR), for which the work of Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg in the late 1980s won the Nobel prize in 2007 and founded the burgeoning field of spintronics. In the decades since the discovery of GMR, a range of interfacial physics has emerged in ferromagnetic/non-magnetic systems that opens up new avenues for physical understanding and offers potential for the creation of synthetic materials with designer properties for spintronic applications in current and future technology including data storage, logic and biomedical applications. Over the past decade several aspects of the fundamental spintronics physics, such as current-driven, rather than magnetic field driven, magnetization switching have been understood and applications developed.However, there are many exciting areas of on-going research linked to interfacial effects such as interface spin-orbit interactions (SOI), spin-currents from the spin Hall effect (SHE), spin-orbit torques (SOT) and SOT switching, interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DMI) interaction, proximity magnetization of non-magnetic metals and effects such as anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) and ferromagnetic damping where interfacial effects with non-magnetic layers can yield new insights. These topics are being researched internationally and form some of the research activities in the Nanomagnetism and Spintronics research group at Durham University. This talk will introduce some of these exciting physical phenomena, and discuss research progress with examples from our research work in the group at Durham University.
Date/Time
Venue
SPS Seminar Room
Speaker
Prof. Del Atkinson
Affiliation
Durham University
Host
Dr. Subhankar Bedanta