Communications of the ACM
New Finding Could Pave Way to Faster, Smaller Electronics
UC Davis physics professors Norman Mannella, left, and Charles Fadley.
Credit: Roy Kaltschmidt
University of California, Davis researchers are using a new technique to investigate the magnetic properties of gallium manganese arsenide, a type of dilute magnetic semiconductor that could lead to a new class of faster, smaller devices based on spintronics.
Understanding the magnetic behavior of atoms at room temperature is one of the keys to making spintronics a viable technology. The researchers relied on the hard X-ray angle-resolved photoemision spectroscopy (HARPES) technique to study gallium manganese arsenide. The research represents the first major application of the HARPES technique, which uses the photoelectric effect to study materials. "We now have a better fundamental understanding of electronic interactions in dilute magnetic semiconductors that can suggest future materials," says Davis professor Charles Fadley.
He notes that HARPES could prove to be an important tool for characterizing other types of dilute magnetic semiconductor materials in the future.
From UC Davis News & Information
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2012 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found