The research could lead to a new generation of electronics, called 'superconducting spintronics' (Credit: Milena Mihaylova)
A team of researchers including physicists at the University of Bath have magnetised gold in a process that could lead to a new generation of electronics and make computers faster, smaller and more powerful. The scientists investigated what happens in a device where a very thin layer of a superconductor, a material that carries electrical current without generating any heat, is sandwiched between a layer of a magnetic material and a layer of gold. Magnetic gold. They discovered that under certain conditions the layer of gold becomes magnetic due to charge carriers flowing out of the superconductor into the metal. The ability to generate and to manipulate magnetic currents in this way has the potential for applications in new types of electronic devices in future. The research is published on the Nature Physics website. The experiments involved a large team of collaborators led by Professor Steve Lee of the University of St Andrews, including the University of Bath, the University of Leeds, Royal Holloway and Bedford College (University of London), the ISIS Facility and the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.
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