News - The University of Sydney

By Richard North

24 July 2012

Scientists working on the next generation of faster, smaller and more complex electronic devices are meeting at the University of Sydney at a conference hosted by the Worldwide Universities Network.

The three-day event brings together world experts in the frontier science of spintronics - a new technology that is expected to replace the conventional digital logic used in IT systems.

Spintronics is named after the way that electrons spin whilst they move. Scientists hope to exploit this characteristic in electrical circuits to provide a new way of processing information that is infinitely more powerful than the old binary system of ones and zeros.

Professor Simon Ringer, Director of the Australian Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis and part of the WUN Spintronics Consortium, said the potential benefits for industry and society were huge.

"There are big implications around energy and communications. The outlooks are very exciting because they involve a steep change in our capacity to generate and store energy, and in communications. The possibilities are spectacular both in terms of designing new processors and information storage.

"Spintronics is a multidisciplinary field involving materials science and engineering, and to eventually harness both charge and spin in real devices, we have a lot of fundamental materials science to work through," said Professor Ringer.

"We need theoreticians, fabricators and microscopists all working closely together to sort out the new physics and head the science towards some of the exciting technological drivers. And we are already seeing huddles where collaborations and new ideas are starting to blossom."

The conference follows on from a spintronics symposium organised by Professor Ringer and his colleague Dr Rongkun Zheng at the World Expo in Shanghai two years ago.

The keynote lecture at this week's conference was delivered today by Professor Stuart Parkin from IBM and Stanford University, a pioneer in the science and application of spintronic materials.

More than 120 scientists from 20 countries are attending the event.

Professor John Hearn, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney and Chief Executive of the WUN, said: "It is wonderful to have the world's thought leaders with us this week and for Sydney to take a prominent leadership role in this exciting new area of science."

Contact: Richard North

Phone: 02 9351 3191

Email: 1c0036314e392f455a3f3e205e173f0f131d04376056095a690802

Source: http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=9686

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