Chapter 5
Spintronics and Synchrotron Radiation
Richard Mattana, Nicolas Locatelli, and Vincent Cros
Abstract Having access to the electronic and magnetic properties of spintronic
systems is of crucial importance in view of their future technological developments.
Our purpose in this chapter is to elaborate how a variety of synchrotron radiationbased measurements provides powerful and often unique techniques to probe them.
We first introduce general concepts in spintronics and present some of the important
scientific advances achieved in the last 30 years. Then we will describe some of
the key investigations using synchrotron radiation concerning voltage control of
magnetism, spin-charge conversion and current-driven magnetization dynamics.
5.1 General Introduction to Spintronics: From
Magnetoresistive Effects to the Physics of
Spin-Transfer Phenomena
Whereas electronics relies on the charge of carriers (electrons and holes) to create and convey information, in spintronics the spin of these carriers is also used.
The generation of spin currents, their detection as well as their manipulation are the
basic principles of any spintronic devices. Since the discovery of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect in 1988, several breakthroughs have been achieved and strongly
impacted several domains of applications such as, e.g. magnetic sensors, hard-disk
drive read heads and more recently nonvolatile memories to cite the most emblematic
ones. In this first part, we aim at introducing the basic principles of GMR and some
of the pioneer experiments. Then we present some other important breakthroughs
such as tunnelling magnetoresistive effects and the manipulation of magnetization
without the application of a magnetic field but using spin-transfer effects.
R. Mattana (B) · N. Locatelli · V. Cros
Unité Mixte de Physique, CNRS, Thales, Université Paris-Saclay, 1 avenue Augustin Fresnel,
91767 Palaiseau, France
e-mail: richard.mattana@cnrs-thales.fr
© The Author(s) 2021
H. Bulou et al. (eds.), Magnetism and Accelerator-Based Light Sources,
Springer Proceedings in Physics 262,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64623-3_5
131
Spintronics and Synchrotron Radiation
Richard Mattana, Nicolas Locatelli, and Vincent Cros
Abstract Having access to the electronic and magnetic properties of spintronic
systems is of crucial importance in view of their future technological developments.
Our purpose in this chapter is to elaborate how a variety of synchrotron radiationbased measurements provides powerful and often unique techniques to probe them.
We first introduce general concepts in spintronics and present some of the important
scientific advances achieved in the last 30 years. Then we will describe some of
the key investigations using synchrotron radiation concerning voltage control of
magnetism, spin-charge conversion and current-driven magnetization dynamics.
5.1 General Introduction to Spintronics: From
Magnetoresistive Effects to the Physics of
Spin-Transfer Phenomena
Whereas electronics relies on the charge of carriers (electrons and holes) to create and convey information, in spintronics the spin of these carriers is also used.
The generation of spin currents, their detection as well as their manipulation are the
basic principles of any spintronic devices. Since the discovery of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect in 1988, several breakthroughs have been achieved and strongly
impacted several domains of applications such as, e.g. magnetic sensors, hard-disk
drive read heads and more recently nonvolatile memories to cite the most emblematic
ones. In this first part, we aim at introducing the basic principles of GMR and some
of the pioneer experiments. Then we present some other important breakthroughs
such as tunnelling magnetoresistive effects and the manipulation of magnetization
without the application of a magnetic field but using spin-transfer effects.
R. Mattana (B) · N. Locatelli · V. Cros
Unité Mixte de Physique, CNRS, Thales, Université Paris-Saclay, 1 avenue Augustin Fresnel,
91767 Palaiseau, France
e-mail: richard.mattana@cnrs-thales.fr
© The Author(s) 2021
H. Bulou et al. (eds.), Magnetism and Accelerator-Based Light Sources,
Springer Proceedings in Physics 262,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64623-3_5
131