New frontiers in nanoscale physics: creating dynamic spintronics devices for facilitating novel spintronic and microwave technologies

纳米结构器件中的自旋动力学表现出显著的特性，因为它连接了一个有趣的三角形，这个三角形是由低维系统中的自旋、电荷和光子相互作用形成的。通过材料科学、纳米技术和波物理的进步，过去的一个世纪见证了一条令人惊叹的道路，这条道路上的研究活动已经从宏观的电磁现象转变为微观和纳米的动态自旋电子学物理。这门学科是许多科学和工程学科的基础，从半导体物理和磁学，到光子学、自旋电子学和微波技术。由于利用自旋流和自旋动力学被认为是促进信息和通信技术(ICT)的最有前途的方法之一，在这一凝聚态物理前沿领域的研究也解决了迫切的社会经济需求。我的研究计划的目标是在我的实验室在过去的资助期间所做的系统工作的基础上，解决动态自旋电子学中的领先问题，并使用所获得的新知识来创造新的自旋电子学设备。我的重点是利用新的自旋电子器件来创新微波成像技术，研究自旋电流的物理，并探索自旋和光子量子强耦合的新领域。 为了实现这些目标，我和我的学生将利用我实验室开发的先进实验工具，进行创新的动态自旋电子学实验。我们独特的优势包括：(I)我们以高灵敏度电检测纳米结构中的自旋动力学的能力，(Ii)我们直接探测自旋共振的幅度和相位的能力，(Iii)我们制造先进的纳米自旋电子器件的经验，以及(Iv)我的实验室建立的具有大量先进工具的研究基础设施的能力。我们将利用我的团队最近的成功，研究铁磁金属、铁磁绝缘体、重金属(具有大的自旋-轨道耦合)，以及由这些材料的组合制成的具有定制功能的混合设备。我们将在本资助期研究的耐人寻味的主题包括：(I)绝缘体中自旋电流的动态产生(自旋泵浦)，(Ii)热利用和热自旋扭矩效应(自旋热电子学)，(Iii)自旋电子微波成像的医疗和工业应用(最近在我的实验室发明)。此外，受2012年诺贝尔物理学奖突破性实验方法的启发，我们将创建和开发片上腔自旋电子器件，以研究铁磁绝缘体中捕获的微波光子和自旋动力学之间的量子强耦合。我们的研究将对快速发展的动态自旋电子学领域产生重大影响。与BlackBerry®、EverSpin Technology和癌症护理马尼托巴省的研究人员现有的工业合作将使我的实验室成果能够快速转化为概念验证和原型设备，用于实际和商业用途。参与我的研究项目的学生将接受独特的培训，拥有加拿大经济中具有战略重要性的电子和信息通信技术部门非常可取的技能。

Spin dynamics in nano-structured devices exhibits remarkable properties, as it links an intriguing triangle formed by the interplay between spin, charge, and the photon in low-dimensional systems. Through the advances in materials science, nanotechnology, and wave physics, the past century has witnessed an amazing path along which research activities on this subject have been transformed from the macroscopic phenomena of electromagnetism to the microscopic and nanoscopic physics of dynamic spintronics. This subject underpins many scientific and engineering disciplines, ranging from semiconductor physics and magnetism, to photonics, spintronics, and microwave technologies. Research in this frontier of condensed matter physics also addresses demanding socio-economic needs, since the utilization of spin current and spin dynamics is considered as one of the most promising approaches for the advancement of information and communication technologies (ICT). The goals of my research program are to build on the systematic work done in my lab during the past funding period, to address the leading questions in the physics of dynamic spintronics, and to use the obtained new knowledge to create novel spintronics devices. My focus is to use the novel spintronic devices to innovate microwave imaging technology, to study the physics of the spin current, and to explore the new field of quantum strong coupling of spin and photons. To achieve these goals, my students and I will do innovative dynamic spintronics experiments by applying advanced experimental tools developed in my lab. Our unique advantage includes: (i) our ability to electrically detect spin dynamics in nanostructures with high sensitivity, (ii) our capability of directly probing both the amplitude and phase of spin resonances, (iii) our experience of fabricating advanced nano-spintronics devices, and (iv) the capacity of the research infrastructure established in my lab with a vast set of advanced tools. We will capitalize on my group's recent success to study ferromagnetic metals, ferromagnetic insulators, heavy metals (with large spin-orbit coupling), as well as hybrid devices with tailored functions made of combinations of these materials. Examples of intriguing topics that we will investigate in this funding period include: (i) dynamic generation of spin current in an insulator (the spin pumping), (ii) heat harnessing and thermal spin torque effect (spin caloritronics), (iii) medical and industrial applications of spintronic microwave imaging (recently invented in my lab). Furthermore, inspired by the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics for the ground-breaking experimental methods that enable studying the fundamental interaction between light and matter in quantum systems, we will create and develop on-chip cavity spintronic devices, to investigate the new physics of quantum strong-coupling between trapped microwave photons and spin dynamics in a ferromagnetic insulator. Our research will have a significant impact in the rapidly advancing field of dynamic spintronics. Existing industrial collaborations with researchers at BlackBerry®, Everspin Technology, and Cancer Care Manitoba will allow rapid translation of achievements in my lab into proof-of-concept and prototype devices for practical and commercial use. Students involved in my research program will be uniquely trained with skills highly desirable in the strategically important electronic and ICT sectors of the Canadian economy.