Thursday, January 15, 2009, Special Colloquium, 4:30 PM, 103 Allen Hall, PITT

Michael E. Flatté

Optical Science and Technology Center and Department of Physics, University of Iowa

"Semiconductor Spintronics and Single-Spin Control"

Abstract:

Research into spin-dependent phenomena in semiconductors has experienced a renaissance in the past decade, as new experimental and theoretical tools have illuminated the fundamental properties of well-known semiconductors, led to the discovery of exotic new materials, and suggested potential applications. Motivations to explore these phenomena include the potential for controlling magnetism without magnetic fields, and for rapidly manipulating otherwise stable quantum spin states. This new understanding of electron spin dynamics has stimulated proposals for nonequilibrium spin devices, such as "spin transistors", as well as the use of spins in semiconductors for quantum information processing. A selection of recent advances in this area will be described.