Vahe Tshitoyan

Nano-spintronics

Spintronics is a branch of electronics that aims to make use of the magnetic (spin) rather the electric (charge) properties of an electron. This approach creates possibilities for nearly dissipationless electronics with very low energy consumption. Spintronic devices are used in present (hard-drive read heads) and emerging data storage applications (magnetic random access memory) and may even find application in information processing (spin-transistors). Despite a number of already existing applications it is a young field of research and many phenomena are still not well understood. During my PhD studies I will try to understand the behaviour of local magnetization on nanometer scales in different materials and device geometries under the influence of spin-currents and magnetic fields. Antiferromagnetic materials and materials with strong spin-orbit coupling will be of particular interest. As an outcome new energy-efficient devices with high operation speeds might emerge.