Spintronics: Semiconductors, Molecules, 
and Quantum Information Processing

Professor David Awschalom
University of California, Santa Barbara
Department of Physics

Date: Thursday, Oct. 5, 2006
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Place: Engineering II, Room 3361

ABSTRACT

There is a growing interest in exploiting electronic and nuclear spins in
nanostructures for the manipulation and storage of information in emergent
technologies based upon spintronics and quantum logic. Such schemes offer
qualitatively new scientific and technological opportunities by combining
elements of standard electronics with spin-dependent interactions between
electrons, nuclei, electric and magnetic fields. Here we provide an overview
of recent developments in the area through a discussion of temporally- and
spatially-resolved magneto-optical measurements that provide a compelling
proof-of-concept that quantum spin information can be controlled within
high-speed electrical circuits. Furthermore, we discuss a different
experimental approach that enables the molecular wiring and assembly of
colloidal semiconductor nanostructures to engineer hybrid systems for room
temperature coherent spin transport. These experiments explore electronic,
photonic, and magnetic control of spin in a variety of nanostructures, and
show significant steps towards spin-based quantum information processing in
the solid state.