Breakthroughs of the Year: 2022

The spin-orbit effect has the potential to result in new scientific discoveries and improve advanced electronics. One highly sought-after outcome is logic-in-memory computing with reduced energy consumption. However, for this effect to be useful, a significant amount of spin-orbit interaction must occur at zero voltage, which has yet to be achieved in traditional semiconducting or metallic systems. To overcome this challenge, Dr Ganesh Ji Omar, with guidance from Prof Ariando and support from a research team, has developed a new approach to control spin-orbit (Rashba) interactions in oxide systems. This new method for tuning and controlling Rashba interactions holds great promise as it can be integrated directly into functional logic and memory devices. This work was published in Physical Review Letters 129, 187203 (2022).