Graphene and lead interaction could enhance spintronics
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Researchers from IMDEA Nanoscience, the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Madrid Institute of Materials Science (CSIC) and the University of the Basque Country have used lead atoms and graphene to create a powerful magnetic field. The team believes this could have application in spintronics.
The scientists laid a layer of lead on another of graphene, in turn grown over an iridium crystal. In this configuration, the lead forms 'islands' beneath the graphene, with the electrons of this 2D material behaving as if they were in the presence of an 80T magnetic field.
"This spin-orbit interaction is a million times more intense than that inherent to graphene, which is why we obtain revolutions that could have important uses, for example in data storage," explains Rodolfo Miranda, director of IMDEA Nanoscience and head of the study.
The first generation of spintronic devices used the effect which magnetic materials have on electron spin. But, in a second generation, an electron's spin-orbit interaction acts as if there were a real external magnetic field, even if there is not.
"Under these conditions, certain electronic states are topologically protected; in other words, they are immune to defects, impurities or geometric disturbances," Miranda added. "If we compare it to traffic, in a traditional spintronic material, cars circulate along a single lane road, which make collisions more likely. With this new material, we have traffic control, with two spatially separate lanes."
