Electrons have a charge and a spin, but until recently these were considered separately. In classical electronics, charges are moved by electric fields to transmit information and are stored in a capacitor to save it. In magnetic recording, magnetic fields have been used to read or write the information stored on the magnetization, which 'measures' the local orientation of spins in ferromagnets. The picture started to change in 1988, when the discovery of giant magnetoresistance opened the way to efficient control of charge transport through magnetization. The recent expansion of hard-disk recording owes much to this development. We are starting to see a new paradigm where magnetization dynamics and charge currents act on each other in nanostructured artificial materials. Ultimately, 'spin currents' could even replace charge currents for the transfer and treatment of information, allowing faster, low-energy operations: spin electronics is on its way.

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The emergence of spin electronics in data storage

Using the atomic structures of the large ribosomal subunit from Haloarcula marismortui and its complexes with two substrate analogs, we establish that the ribosome is a ribozyme and address the catalytic properties of its all-RNA active site. Both substrate analogs are contacted exclusively by conserved ribosomal RNA (rRNA) residues from domain V of 23S rRNA; there are no protein side-chain atoms closer than about 18 angstroms to the peptide bond being synthesized. The mechanism of peptide bond synthesis appears to resemble the reverse of the acylation step in serine proteases, with the base of A2486 (A2451 in Escherichia coli) playing the same general base role as histidine-57 in chymotrypsin. The unusual pK(a) (where K(a) is the acid dissociation constant) required for A2486 to perform this function may derive in part from its hydrogen bonding to G2482 (G2447 in E. coli), which also interacts with a buried phosphate that could stabilize unusual tautomers of these two bases. The polypeptide exit tunnel is largely formed by RNA but has significant contributions from proteins L4, L22, and L39e, and its exit is encircled by proteins L19, L22, L23, L24, L29, and L31e.

The Structural Basis of Ribosome Activity in Peptide Bond Synthesis

Electron and ambipolar transport in organic field-effect transistors.

“Spintronics,” in which both the spin and charge of electrons are used for logic and memory operations, promises an alternate route to traditional semiconductor electronics. A complete logic architecture can be constructed, which uses planar magnetic wires that are less than a micrometer in width. Logical NOT, logical AND, signal fan-out, and signal cross-over elements each have a simple geometric design, and they can be integrated together into one circuit. An additional element for data input allows information to be written to domain-wall logic circuits.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/309/5741/1688.full.pdf

Magnetic Domain-Wall Logic

Acenes have long been the subject of intense study because of the unique electronic properties associated with their pi-bond topology. Recent reports of impressive semiconductor properties of larger homologues have reinvigorated research in this field, leading to new methods for their synthesis, functionalization, and purification, as well as for fabricating organic electronic components. Studies performed on high-purity acene single crystals revealed their intrinsic electronic properties and provide useful benchmarks for thin film device research. New approaches to add functionality were developed to improve the processability of these materials in solution. These new functionalization strategies have recently allowed the synthesis of acenes larger than pentacene, which have hitherto been largely unavailable and poorly studied, as well as investigation of their associated structure/property relationships.

The larger acenes: versatile organic semiconductors.

Spin structures of nanoscale magnetic dots are the subject of increasing scientific effort, as the confinement of spins imposed by the geometrical restrictions makes these structures comparable to some internal characteristic length scales of the magnet. For a vortex (a ferromagnetic dot with a curling magnetic structure), a spot of perpendicular magnetization has been theoretically predicted to exist at the center of the vortex. Experimental evidence for this magnetization spot is provided by magnetic force microscopy imaging of circular dots of permalloy (Ni 80 Fe 20 ) 0.3 to 1 micrometer in diameter and 50 nanometers thick.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/289/5481/930.full.pdf

Magnetic vortex core observation in circular dots of permalloy

The motion of a magnetic domain wall in a submicrometer magnetic wire was detected by use of the giant magnetoresistance effect. Magnetization reversal in a submicrometer magnetic wire takes place by the propagation of a magnetic domain wall, which can be treated as a “particle.” The propagation velocity of the magnetic domain wall was determined as a function of the applied magnetic field.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/284/5413/468.full.pdf

Propagation of a magnetic domain wall in a submicrometer magnetic wire

The high-frequency magnetic response of Permalloy thin films have been measured using network-analyzer ferromagnetic resonance. We demonstrate that the excitation of spin waves by the coplanar wave-guide modify the magnetic response appreciably, in particular, by causing a frequency shift and broadening of the resonance peak. An analytic theory is presented to account for the experimental observations and provides a quantitative tool to accurately determine the Gilbert damping constant.

Spin wave contributions to the high-frequency magnetic response of thin films obtained with inductive methods

MFM study of magnetic vortex cores in circular permalloy dots: behavior in external field

A study of rhodium(I)-catalyzed synthetic transformations involving selective breaking of the C−C bond α to the carbonyl group of cyclobutanones is described. Decarbonylation took place on treatment of a cyclobutanone with an equimolar amount of (Ph3P)3RhCl at reflux in toluene to afford the corresponding cyclopropane. The formation of the cyclopropane suggests that Rh(I) undergoes an insertion into the bond between the carbonyl carbon and the α-carbon in the initial step. Catalytic decarbonylation of cyclobutanone was also achieved. The mode and rate of the reaction depended greatly on the ligands of the rhodium(I) complex. When a cyclobutanone bearing a hydrogen atom at the 3-position was used, appropriate choice of the catalyst system led to the selective formation of either a cyclopropane or an alkene. Breaking of the carbon−carbon bond was next combined with hydrogenolysis. When cyclobutanone was treated under hydrogen pressure with a catalytic amount of a rhodium(I) complex having a bidentate diphos...

Kunji Shigeto

Papers

Magnetic vortex core observation in circular dots of permalloy

Propagation of a magnetic domain wall in a submicrometer magnetic wire

Spin wave contributions to the high-frequency magnetic response of thin films obtained with inductive methods

MFM study of magnetic vortex cores in circular permalloy dots: behavior in external field

Breaking of the C−C Bond of Cyclobutanones by Rhodium(I) and Its Extension to Catalytic Synthetic Reactions