Researchers in the Awschalom group published a paper about a groundbreaking advance in spintronics research, with significant implications for ultra-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging and quantum computing.
Abram Falk, lead author of the report on the research, and colleagues invented a new technique that uses infrared light to align spins. They did so using silicon carbide, an industrially important semiconductor and an inexpensive, practical material. Using their new technique, David Awschalom, the Liew Family Professor in Spintronics and Quantum Information, and his associates aligned more than 99 percent of spins in certain nuclei in silicon carbide.
Nuclear spins tend to be randomly oriented. Aligning them in a controllable fashion is usually a complicated and only marginally successful proposition. The reason, explains Paul Klimov, a co-author of the paper, is that “the magnetic moment of each nucleus is tiny, roughly 1,000 times smaller than that of an electron.”
“Our results could lead to new technologies like ultra-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear gyroscopes and even computers that harness quantum mechanical effects,” said Falk.
The report was featured as the cover article of the June 17, 2015, issue of Physical Review Letters.