UB hosts a lecture on spintronics by the scientist Albert Fert, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2007
Albert Fert was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007 for his discovery of the giant magnetoresistance effect (GMR). On Thursday 25 September, at midday, he has pronounced the lecture “Spin-orbitronics, a new direction for spintronics” at the Aula Magna Enric Casassas at the Faculty of Physics of UB. The event is presented by Atilà Herms, dean of the Faculty of Physics, and Javier Tejada, professor from the Department of Fundamental Physics of UB and expert on magnetism and the study of quantic effects in magnetism and superconductivity.
Albert Fert was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007 for his discovery of the giant magnetoresistance effect (GMR). On Thursday 25 September, at midday, he has pronounced the lecture “Spin-orbitronics, a new direction for spintronics” at the Aula Magna Enric Casassas at the Faculty of Physics of UB. The event is presented by Atilà Herms, dean of the Faculty of Physics, and Javier Tejada, professor from the Department of Fundamental Physics of UB and expert on magnetism and the study of quantic effects in magnetism and superconductivity.
Expert from the Mix Unit for Physics at CNRS/ Thales (France), Albert Fert was awarded the Nobel Prize together with Peter Grünberg for a scientific discovery that constitutes the departure point of an innovative field in the physics of magnetic materials and technology: spintronics, a scientific area that studies electronsʼ ability to spin (rotate at quantum level) and allowed to develop a new generation of more efficient sensors and electronic devices. Then, the discovery of tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) enabled to have materials with more storage capacity and to develop the first magnetic memory MRAM (2006).
On his lecture, Professor Fert has described spintronics considering its most traditional view and explain how a current of spin-polarized electrons is produced (electrons with the same number of spins). He will also has analysed new scientific challenges brought by another scientific field which is even more challenging than spintronics: spin-orbitronics.
Professor Fert gave a plenary speech during the 10th International Workshop on Nanomagnetism and Superconductivity at the Nanoscale, which took place in July in Coma-ruga (Tarragona). A committee headed by Javier Tejada organised the meeting.