Spintronics
Coordinators: David D. Awschalom, Gerrit E.w. Bauer, Michael E. Flatté, Daniel Loss, Allan H. MacDonald, Dan Ralph
This program will address spin coherence and spin transport in both metals and semiconductors. Interest in spintronics is motivated in part by the technological appeal of the electron spin degree of freedom, which has already and will likely continue to enable new functionalities in electronic devices. Spin-based quantum information processing is one especially enticing possibility. The applicability of fundamental results has created a field in which the interests of theoretical, computational, experimental, and industrial physicists have an unusually large overlap. The goals of the program are to identify and to make progress on key theoretical problems, and to enhance interactions between the communities of researchers that share an interest in spintronics.