Mesoporous silicon: semiconductor with new talents

03-Mar-2025 - Silicon is the best-known semiconductor material. However, targeted nanostructuring can drastically change the material properties. A team at HZB has now produced mesoporous silicon layers with countless tiny pores using a specially developed etching apparatus and investigated their electrical ...

Nanoislands on silicon with switchable topological textures

23-Jan-2025 - Nanostructures with specific electromagnetic patterns promise applications in nanoelectronics and future information technologies. However, it is very challenging to control those patterns. Now, a team at HZB examined a specific class of nanoislands on silicon with interesting chiral, swirling ...

Optical control of magnetic memory

New insights into fundamental mechanisms

29-Aug-2017 - A research team at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has shown for the first time how laser modulation of magnetic properties in materials is influenced by thermal effects and how the process occurs under moderate experimental parameters. At the same time, the scientists discovered a previously ...

Spintronics for future information technologies

Spin currents in topological insulators controlled

02-May-2016 - Future information technologies should employ considerably less energy for processing data. One exciting class of materials for this comprises topological insulators. Topological insulators are distinguished by their electrons at the surface being extremely mobile, while the bulk material within ...

Emergence of a “devil’s staircase” in a spin-valve system

03-Jul-2015 - A Japanese-German team observes at BESSY II how spins form unusual magnetic structures in a complex cobalt oxide single crystal. Such a material offers new perspectives for spintronic applications. Complex magnetic structures are at the heart of promising new materials for devices in ...