Abstract

The promise of spin-electronics (spintronics) is that logic processing based on the spin of an electron can be faster and lower power than the conventional charge-based equivalent in semiconductor transistor technologies. However, generating and propagating the necessary spin currents is not low power because large charge currents are required at device inputs, which dissipate heat, limiting circuit efficiency. The real breakthrough would be the creation of spin-polarised supercurrents in which there is no dissipation. In 2001, theory predicted that at a carefully engineered superconductor / ferromagnet interface it would be possible to create a source of spin-polarised supercurrents. In 2010, our group discovered how to generate such dissipation-free spin-currents and now we are investigating the fundamental properties of this new superconducting state and its potential in practical devices. In this talk, I will provide an overview of this work on spin-polarised superconductivity.