Multifunctional Magnetoelectric Materials for Device Applications

Mutiferroics are a novel class of next generation multifunctional materials, which display simultaneous magnetic spin, electric dipole, and ferroelastic ordering, and have drawn increasing interest due to their multi-functionality for a variety of device applications. Since single-phase materials exist rarely in nature with such cross-coupling properties, an intensive research activity is being pursued towards the discovery of new single-phase multiferroic materials and the design of new engineered materials with strong magneto-electric (ME) coupling. This review article summarizes the development of different kinds of multiferroic material: single-phase and composite ceramic, laminated composite, and nanostructured thin films. Thin-film nanostructures have higher magnitude direct ME coupling values and clear evidence of indirect ME coupling compared with bulk materials. Promising ME coupling coefficients have been reported in laminated composite materials in which signal to noise ratio is good for device fabrication. We describe the possible applications of these materials

Nonphotolithographic nanoscale memory density prospects

Technologies are now emerging to construct molecular-scale electronic wires and switches using bottom-up self-assembly. This opens the possibility of constructing nanoscale circuits and memories where active devices are just a few nanometers square and wire pitches may be on the order of ten nanometers. The features can be defined at this scale without using photolithography. The available assembly techniques have relatively high defect rates compared to conventional lithographic integrated circuits and can only produce very regular structures. Nonetheless, with proper memory organization, it is reasonable to expect these technologies to provide memory densities in excess of 10/sup 11/ b/cm/sup 2/ with modest active power requirements under 0.6 W/Tb/s for random read operations

Long-range vortex transfer in superconducting nanowires

Under high-enough values of perpendicularly-applied magnetic field and current, a type-II superconductor presents a finite resistance caused by the vortex motion driven by the Lorentz force. To recover the dissipation-free conduction state, strategies for minimizing vortex motion have been intensely studied in the last decades. However, the non-local vortex motion, arising in areas depleted of current, has been scarcely investigated despite its potential application for logic devices. Here, we propose a route to transfer vortices carried by non-local motion through long distances (up to 10 micrometers) in 50 nm-wide superconducting WC nanowires grown by Ga+ Focused Ion Beam Induced Deposition. A giant non-local electrical resistance of 36 Ω has been measured at 2 K in 3 μm-long nanowires, which is 40 times higher than signals reported for wider wires of other superconductors. This giant effect is accounted for by the existence of a strong edge confinement potential that hampers transversal vortex displacements, allowing the long-range coherent displacement of a single vortex row along the superconducting channel. Experimental results are in good agreement with numerical simulations of vortex dynamics based on the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. Our results pave the way for future developments on information technologies built upon single vortex manipulation in nano-superconductorsThis work was supported by the financial support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the projects MAT2015-69725-REDT, MAT2017-82970-C2-1-R and MAT2017-82970-C2-2-R, PIE201760E027, including FEDER funding, FIS2017-84330-R, MDM-2014-0377, FIS2016-80434-P and the Fundación Ramón Areces, EU ERC (Grant Agreement No. 679080), COST Grant No. CA16128 and STSM Grant from COST Action CA16218, and from regional Gobierno de Aragón (grants E13_17R and E28_17R) with European Social Fund (Construyendo Europa desde Aragón) and Comunidad de Madrid through project Nanofrontmag-CM (Grant No. S2013/MIT-2850

Multi-Frequency Magnonic Logic Circuits for Parallel Data Processing

We describe and analyze magnonic logic circuits enabling parallel data processing on multiple frequencies. The circuits combine bi-stable (digital) input/output elements and an analog core. The data transmission and processing within the analog part is accomplished by the spin waves, where logic 0 and 1 are encoded into the phase of the propagating wave. The latter makes it possible to utilize a number of bit carrying frequencies as independent information channels. The operation of the magnonic logic circuits is illustrated by numerical modeling. We also present the estimates on the potential functional throughput enhancement and compare it with scaled CMOS. The described multi-frequency approach offers a fundamental advantage over the transistor-based circuitry and may provide an extra dimension for the Moor's law continuation. The shortcoming and potentials issues are also discussed