Ultrafast spin transfer over a chain of 40 carbon atoms

Electrons possess not only an electric charge but also an intrinsic magnetic moment (called spin), which can function as an information carrier (bit) in exactly the same way the charge does. In order to use the spin to build usable integrated circuits, one needs both a local manipulation of the information (for example Boolean logic operations), as well as transfer of the spin information (in other words the output of the last logical process) to neighboring elements, so that it can be evaluated or further processed. A newly published study from the group of Prof. Dr. W. Hübner, stemming from an international collaboration between the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany, the Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China, and the Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China, addresses exactly this last step.

In this work it was theoretically shown, that a zigzag 40-atoms-long carbon chain can convey the electronic spin over distances which are longer than 4.4 nm. The distance of this ultrafast laser-induced transfer is directly comparable to today’s state-of-the-art CMOS technology, which has already surpassed the 7 nm limit. This represents a scientific milestone, in which the largest molecules, which can be theoretically calculated with high-precision quantum-mechanical many-body methods, meet the smallest elements, which can be produced with modern lithography procedures. Additionally, a double pulse procedure was suggested, which allows an enhanced addressability of individual magnetic centers, and thus enhances the distinguishability of local and global laser-induced spin manipulation.

This study was published in the renowned journal “Physical Review Letters”:

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.037402

For more information:
PD Dr. Georg Lefkidis, TU Kaiserslautern
Department of Physics, Condensed Matter Theory Group
Phone: 0631 205-3207
E-mail: lefkidis(at)physik.uni-kl.de