IBM Spintronics Breakthrough Could Lead to New Magnetic-Based Semiconductor Transistors

By: Darryl K. Taft
2012-08-13
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/IBM-Spintronics-Breakthrough-Could-Lead-to-New-Magneticbased-Semiconductor-Transistors-481350/

IBM Research joins a European university team to synchronize electron spins, which could enable a new class of magnetic-based semiconductor transistors resulting in more energy-efficient electronic devices.

IBM and scientists at ETH Zurich, a leading European university, have introduced the first-ever direct mapping of the formation of a persistent spin helix in a semiconductor, Big Blue said.

The goal of the project is to use electron spins for storing, transporting and processing information. However, up to this breakthrough, it was unclear whether electron spins possessed the capability to preserve the encoded information long enough before rotating.

Yet, as illustrated in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Physics, scientists from IBM Research and the Solid State Physics Laboratory at ETH Zurich demonstrated that synchronizing electrons extends the spin lifetime of the electron by 30 times to 1.1 nanoseconds—the same time it takes for an existing 1GHz processor to cycle.

Today's computing technology encodes and processes data by the electrical charge of electrons, IBM explained in a press release. However, this technique is limited as the semiconductor dimensions continue to shrink to the point where the flow of electrons can no longer be controlled. Spin electronics, or "spintronics," could surmount this approaching impasse by harnessing the spin of electrons instead of their charge, IBM said.

This new understanding in spintronics not only gives scientists unprecedented control over the magnetic movements inside devices but also opens new possibilities for creating more energy-efficient electronics.

A previously unknown aspect of physics, the scientists observed how electron spins move tens of micrometers in a semiconductor with their orientations synchronously rotating along the path similar to a couple dancing the waltz, the famous Viennese ballroom dance where couples rotate.

"If all couples start with the women facing north, after a while, the rotating pairs are oriented in different directions,” said Gian Salis of the Physics of Nanoscale Systems research group at IBM Research-Zurich, in a statement. “We can now lock the rotation speed of the dancers to the direction they move. This results in a perfect choreography where all the women in a certain area face the same direction. This control and ability to manipulate and observe the spin is an important step in the development of spin-based transistors that are electrically programmable."

For its experiment, IBM scientists used ultra short laser pulses to monitor the evolution of thousands of electron spins that were created simultaneously in a very small spot, Big Blue said. Atypically, where such spins would randomly rotate and quickly lose their orientation, for the first time, the scientists could observe how these spins arrange neatly into a regular stripe-like pattern, the so-called persistent spin helix, IBM said in its release.

The concept of locking the spin rotation was originally proposed in theory back in 2003, and since that time, some experiments have even found indications of such locking, but until now, it had never been directly observed, IBM said.

IBM scientists imaged the synchronous "waltz" of the electron spins by using a time-resolved scanning microscope technique. The synchronization of the electron spin rotation made it possible to observe the spins travel for more than 10 micrometers or one-hundredth of a millimeter, increasing the possibility to use the spin for processing logical operations, both fast and energy efficiently.

The reason for the synchronous spin motion is a carefully engineered spin-orbit interaction, a physical mechanism that couples the spin with the motion of the electron. The semiconductor material called gallium arsenide (GaAs) was produced by scientists at ETH Zurich who are known as world-experts in growing ultra-clean and atomically precise semiconductor structures, IBM said. GaAs is a III/V semiconductor commonly used in the manufacture of devices such as integrated circuits, infrared light-emitting diodes and highly efficient solar cells.

Transferring spin electronics from the laboratory to the market still remains a major challenge, according to IBM. Spintronics research takes place at very low temperatures at which electron spins interact minimally with the environment. In the case of this particular research, IBM scientists worked at 40 Kelvin (-233 C, -387 F), the company said.

This work was financially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation through National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Nanoscale Sciences and NCCR Quantum Science and Technology. The scientific paper entitled "Direct mapping of the formation of a persistent spin helix" by M.P. Walser, C. Reichl, W. Wegscheider and G. Salis was published online in Nature Physics, DOI 10.1038/NPHYS2383 (12 August 2012).

New Facts Have Emerged?

Lost Egyptian Pyramids Found?

Analysis by Rossella Lorenzi 
Fri Aug 10, 2012 10:22 AM ET http://news.discovery.com/history/lost-egyptian-pyramids-found-120810.html   See also:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/egypt-pyramids-discovered_n_1772551.html

Two possible pyramid complexes might have been found in Egypt, according to a Google Earth satellite imagery survey.

Located about 90 miles apart, the sites contain unusual grouping of mounds with intriguing features and orientations, said satellite archaeology researcher Angela Micol of Maiden, N.C.

One site in Upper Egypt, just 12 miles from the city of Abu Sidhum along the Nile, features four mounds each with a larger, triangular-shaped plateau.

The two larger mounds at this site are approximately 250 feet in width, with two smaller mounds approximately 100 feet in width.

NEWS: Egyptian Pyramids Found With NASA Satellite

The site complex is arranged in a very clear formation with the large mound extending a width of approximately 620 feet -- almost three times the size of the Great Pyramid.

"Upon closer examination of the formation, this mound appears to have a very flat top and a curiously symmetrical triangular shape that has been heavily eroded with time," Micol wrote in her website Google Earth Anomalies.

Intriguingly, when zooming in on the top of the triangular formation, two circular, 20-foot-wide features appear almost in the very center of the triangle.

Some 90 miles north near the Fayoum oasis, the second possible pyramid complex contains a four-sided, truncated mound that is approximately 150 feet wide.

ANALYSIS: Satellite Views Reveal Early Human Settlements

"It has a distinct square center which is very unusual for a mound of this size and it almost seems pyramidal when seen from above," Micol wrote.

Located just 1.5 miles south east of the ancient town of Dimai, the site also contains three smaller mounds in a very clear formation, "similar to the diagonal alignment of the Giza Plateau pyramids," Micol stated in a press release.

"The color of the mounds is dark and similar to the material composition of Dimai's walls which are made of mudbrick and stone," the researcher wrote.

HOWSTUFFWORKS: Building the Pyramids

Founded in the third century B.C. under the Ptolemaic king Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309 B.C.–246 B.C.), Dimai was built on top of an earlier neolithic settlement.

Also known as Dimeh al-Siba, Dimeh of the Lions, the town is surrounded by a mudbrick wall that stretches up to 32 feet high and 16 feet thick, and features at its center a ruined stone temple dedicated to the crocodile god Soknopaios.

Indeed, the town's Greek name, Soknopaiou Nesos, means "Island of Soknopaios."

Well known to scholars for the amount of papyri and other inscribed material found among its ruins, Dimai reached its peak during the first and second century A.D. thanks to a major trade route. It was abandoned during the mid-third century A.D.

According to Micol, both sites have been verified as undiscovered by Egyptologist and pyramid expert Nabil Selim, whose findings include the pyramid called Sinki at Abydos and the Dry Moat surrounding the Step pyramid complex at Saqqara.

Selim found that the smaller 100-foot mounds at the site near Abu Sidhum are a similar size as the 13th Dynasty Egyptian pyramids, if a square base can be discovered.

BIG PIC: Man Etches Name in Sand, Visible from Space

"The images speak for themselves. It's very obvious what the sites may contain but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact, pyramids," Micol said.

The researcher has previously located several possible archaeological sites with Google Earth, including a potential underwater city off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula.

She believes the use of infrared imagery will allow scientists to see the extent of the complexes in greater detail.

The sites have been sent to Egyptologists and researchers for further investigation and "ground truthing," she said.

Photos: The site near Abu Sidhum contains four mounds with a larger, triangular-shaped plateau. Credit: Angela Micol; 
-- Enhanced image of the 150 foot wide, four-sided mound near the ancient town of Dimai. Credit: Angela Micol;
-- The site also contains three smaller mounds in a formation similar to the diagonal alignment of the Giza Plateau pyramids. Credit: Angela Micol.

Curious mission on Mars

Some members of the community of curious ladies and gentlemen ventured a Curious mission on Mars.

What that mission shall uncover is a great enigma. 

NASA shows off Curiosity's 1st colour panorama of Mars
130 low-resolution images make up wide view of rover's surroundings
By David Thurton, CBC News Posted: Aug 9, 2012 3:27 PM ET
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/08/09/sci-mars-day4.html

The Higgs/Hig's Aether

http://publiccitizen.sonomaportal.com/2012/08/09/the-higgs-aether/

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Larry Barnett

The Higgs Field, it is proposed, is an all-pervading, invisible and until recently undetectable space-filling force that imparts mass to quantum particles. The mechanism through which this happens has been theorized but not proven, and all that has been observed to date have been the “tracks” that the super temperature particle-splitting process leaves behind.

Ironically, the idea of an all-pervading force that permeates space and imparts mass to all matter does sound very god-like, and at a minimum has its place in most mystical traditions. The ancient Chinese Hwa-Yen Buddhists (200-800 AD) called such a force Li, and said that all physical forms (which they called Shih) embodied and were manifestations of Li. This idea of an underlying principle, a unifying force that generates and imparts existence, was therefore at work in all things, people included. The ancient yogic practices of India, (yoga literally means “union”) and other mind/body wisdom traditions are rooted in practices which make manifest the unity and completeness underlying existence. Sufis, Native Americans, Taoists and followers of many religious traditions find solace and meaning in connecting with this all-pervading force.

Prior to the 20th century, in the history of physics the idea of the existence of the “aether” was widely accepted. The aether was characterized as an all-pervading, invisible force through which all other observed forces – electricity, gravity and magnetism – were transmitted and made manifest. In its way, the aether provided an analogue to Einstein’s “cosmological constant,” the invisible factor that he required to explain the expansion of the universe. I find an echo of the aether in current descriptions of the Higg’s.

People crave an answer to the question of the meaning of existence, and over the course of history the answer has varied. For the religious, the answer has been found in God, for the mystic, the answer has been found in elemental forces and for the rationalist, the answer has been found in science. Yet one finds some unity within the different answers, and much of the vocabulary needed to provide the answer is found in common: all pervasive, imparting existence, invisible, powerful and ever-present. Herein lies a clue to the truth about the meaning of existence; the deeper we dig from any direction, it inevitably seems to lead to the same conclusions.

Some might argue that such conclusions and conceptualizations are simply the outcome of an anthropic principle, that a universe in which human consciousness can arise is a universe uniquely suited to human beings. Others would classify this as circular thinking. Such arguments aside, it does seem that contemporary scientific discovery is moving ever closer to esoteric belief, not vice-a-versa.

Olympics 2012: It looks like that recently all the nations of the world symbolically commemorated Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Fleur-de-lis: It is never late to note that

Once upon a time ...

And if to rotate fast one surface over the other and at the same time to rotate both of them, then :)

Engineers Unveil First Casimir Chip That Exploits The Vacuum Energy

Monday, July 30, 2012 http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428648/engineers-unveil-first-casimir-chip-that-exploits/ 

Nanofabrication engineers have built the first on-chip device that exploits the Casimir effect

One of the strangest effects to arise from the quantum nature of the universe is the Casimir force. This pushes two parallel conducting plates together when they are just a few dozen nanometres apart.