Focus on Spin-Dependent Phenomena In New Materials: From 2D Materials To Topological Insulators And Beyond

The recent availability of novel thin films and atom-thick layers, such as graphene, and metal di-chalcogenides and topological insulators, has opened fertile ground for the exploration of fundamental physics in low-dimensional systems. In addition to the continued introduction of new materials, scientists have been searching hard for a new state variable that should be explored for use beyond complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors (CMOS). Such efforts have been remarkably successful in the context of spintronics that use the spin angular momentum to store, transmit and manipulate information, which is more energy-efficient than charge information processing. Spintronics is one of the most active research areas in condensed matter physics and is continuously attracting a large amount of attention from both academia and the semiconductor industry. Efforts have been rewarded with many fundamental discoveries that could lead to important applications such as spin-torque magnetic random access memories and magnetic field sensors. This focus collection highlights recent progress in the development and application of new spintronic materials, such as 2D materials, topological materials, half-metal ferromagnets and low Gilbert damping materials, as well as in novel interfacial phenomena occurring in spintronic materials and heterostructures, such as Spin Hall effect, Rashba effect and proximity effects.