Hitachi, Ltd. (Takashi Kawamura, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer), and Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University (Director Professor Kazuo Nakajima, President Akihisa Inoue, Ph.D.) has developed technologies to simulate spintronics devises to control spin that is a magnetic property of electrons in solid. The new technology calculates spin current and spin torque by quantum-mechanical method. It predicts electrical current that induces magnetization reversal by dynamic magnetization simulation using the calculation results. The research group has applied the technology to magnetic multilayer made of ferromagnetic bilayer that has been difficult to be analyzed because of complicated electron behavior, and found that prediction of electrical current that induces magnetization reversal by simulations is possible. The new technology will help design and explain phenomena of spintronics devises that use magnetic multilayer.

This research has been conducted as a part of “ Development of new materials and new functions by numerical simulation,” Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) (Project Leader Professor Sadamichi Maekawa at IMR.)

The research group has presented the results at International Conference on Magnetism (ICM2009) at Karlsruhe, Germany through July 26 to 31.

[Contact]

Professor Sadamichi Maekawa

Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University

Tel: +81 22-215-2005  Fax: +81 22-215-2008

E-mail: maekawa@imr.tohoku.ac.jp

Assistant Professor Saburo Takahashi

E-mail: takahasi@imr.tohoku.ac.jp