Every time you save a file or stream a video, your device’s electronics generate heat and waste energy—a problem that grows as data demands surge. This project aims to replace conventional silicon transistors with two-dimensional quantum materials called Weyl semimetals, which can generate pure spin currents without needing magnetic fields. The researchers will build ultra-clean interfaces between these materials and ferromagnetic layers inside a specialised vacuum chamber at Loughborough University, allowing them to switch nanomagnetic bits using extremely low electrical currents. If successful, this would dramatically cut the energy needed for magnetic recording and memory in computers, data centres, and sensors. The work is fundamental science—it explores how crystalline symmetry in topological materials forces electrons to behave in ways that could underpin next-generation spintronic devices. While no immediate consumer product will emerge, the same kind of materials physics that led to the giant magnetoresistance effect—now used in every hard drive—could eventually make computing faster, cooler, and more efficient.
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The amount of data generated in the last decade has significantly increased, putting pressure on modern nanoelectronics to move beyond silicon technology and harness quantum technologies for next-generation computing, sensing, and information communication technologies. However, several bottlenecks are associated with transforming these quantum technologies into practical applications, including sensitivity to electrical/thermal noise, the external environment, and large-scale integration into everyday computing devices. We propose using two-dimensional quantum materials to address these challenges and showcase efficient magnetic recording technologies that utilise symmetry-demanded spin currents in topological quantum materials. We aim to create highly effective spintronic devices using Weyl semimetals and demonstrate the possibility of magnetic-field-free switching of nanomagnets at extremely low current densities. This breakthrough will significantly impact spintronics and other alternative computing technologies. To achieve this, it is essential to (i) establish ultra-clean spintronic interfaces and optimise the conditions for the efficient charge-to-spin conversion process in Weyl semimetal and ferromagnetic systems and (ii) use these spin currents to manipulate nanomagnetic bits that arise due to the underlying crystalline symmetry of low-dimensional topological materials. The newly established experimental capability at Loughborough – a multi-chamber system with in-situ manipulation, patterning, and electronic characterisation of two-dimensional nanodevices – enables us to engineer multifunctional nanodevices without exposure to air and, therefore, preserve their quantum properties for spintronics.
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