New material provides a key to explaining superconductivity

For the first time, researchers have directly imaged the magnetisation dynamics inside a spin Hall nano-oscillator — a nanoscale device that converts direct current into tunable microwave signals and is a promising building block for energy-efficient wireless communication and brain-inspired computing. A Swedish–German team led by the University of Gothenburg and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) achieved this using time-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy at the MAXYMUS instrument at BESSY II. The results, now published in Advanced Materials, reveal spin-wave features that had escaped previous, indirect measurement techniques.

(Fe_0.63Ni_0.3Pd_0.07)₃P or FNPP is a magnetic material that exhibits complex magnetic structures even at room temperature. This makes the material of interest for spintronics, a field that could enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. One potential application is novel magnetic memory devices. However, generating and modifying the desired structures in a controlled manner remains a challenge to date. A new study led by HZB has now taken a step forward in this regard. They demonstrated at the worldwide unique VEKMAG-Station at BESSY II, that a tiny external B-field in the plane of the magnetic patterns is sufficient to change them.

Following predictions of the existence of fractons in quantum spin liquids by more general gauge field theories, researchers at HZB succeeded in detecting these quasi-particles also in a quantum solid-state model.