Researchers have created an innovative transparent layer that sits between two insulating materials. This material allows electrons to move around in a two-dimensional plane at room temperature, with their spins (an inherent property of electrons called intrinsic angular momentum) all pointing in the same direction. This breakthrough could significantly speed up data transfers between different parts of electronic devices and increase the amount of data that can be stored in quantum devices. The need to achieve new functionalities in modern electronic devices has led to the need to understand the property of the electron called its spin degree of freedom along with its charge. This has given rise to an entirely new field of spin-electronics or 'spintronics'. For decades, spintronics held promise theoretically, but its unique behaviours seemed like science fiction. Concepts such as spin current and manipulation remained elusive.
However, with the development of advanced materials and fabrication techniques, especially at the nanoscale, scientists are now creating condensed matter systems that exhibit these properties. This opens the door to a new era of spintronic devices with functionalities beyond conventional electronics. Scientists at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous research institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) located in Mohali, India, have for the first time constructed a transparent conducting interface between two insulating materials with room-temperature spin polarized electron gas that allows for transparent devices with efficient spin currents. Prof. Suvankar Chakraborty and his group at INST have produced 2D electron gas (2DEG) with room-temperature spin polarization at an interface made of the chemicals LaFeO3 and SrTiO3.
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