Context
- Scientists at INST, Mohali, Punjab have produced an ultra-high mobility 2d-electron gas (2DEG).
Basics of the Study
- The need for attaining new functionalities in modern electronic devices has led to the manipulation of property of an electron called spin degree of freedom along with its charge.
- This has given rise to an altogether new field of spin-electronics or ‘spintronics’.
- The strong spin-orbit coupling and relativistic nature of the electrons in the 2DEG resulted in the ‘Rashba field’.
- It has been realized that a phenomenon called the ‘Rashba effect’, which consists of splitting of spin-bands in an electronic system, might play a key role in spintronic devices.
Key-highlights of the findings
Scientists have produced an ultra-high mobility 2d-electron gas (2DEG) at the interface of two insulating oxide layers with
- Ultra-high mobility, which can speed up transfer of quantum information
- Signal from one part of a device to another
- Increase data storage and memory
- next-generation data storage media and quantum computers
Figure showing device configuration, Quantum oscillation in the resistance, and Spin-Momentum electronic band splitting revealed through transport measurements
Significance of the findings
- The research may open up a new field of device physics, especially in the field of quantum technology applicable for next-generation data storage media and quantum computers.
- Due to the high mobility of the electron gas, electrons do not collide inside the medium for a long distance and hence do not lose the memory and information.
- A system can easily remember and transfer its memory for a long time and distance.
- In addition, since they collide less during their flow, their resistance is very low, and hence they don’t dissipate energy as heat.
- Such devices do not heat up easily and need less input energy to operate.
