New research unit to study the generation, transport and detection of chiral phonons
DFG funds spintronics research with 3.2 million euros / MBI involved
Spintronics is already widely used in data storage, sensor technology and, increasingly, in communication technology. Many of our cars and cell phones already contain components based on spintronics. Spintronics means that not only the electric charge is used to store information, but also the electron spin – the intrinsic angular momentum or magnetic moment of an electron.
Eight physicists have now received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to investigate how spintronics can be coupled to atomic vibrations, known as phonons, in the research unit “Chiral Phonons for Spintronics” (ChiPS). “Chiral” phonons play a key role here, which, in simple terms, refers to atoms that have left- or right-handed angular momentum.
Prof. Sangeeta Sharma contributes to the research program in the field of theoretical physics. Together with her group at the Max Born Institute, Sharma will investigate the interplay between chiral phonons and the dynamics of electron spins on the femtosecond time scale. She will study how chiral phonons can be generated in a controlled manner using laser pulses and used to manipulate the magnetization of a material. In addition to scientists from the host university of Konstanz, researchers from Aachen, Augsburg, Berlin and Garching are working together in ChiPS.
On March 31, 2025, the DFG announced that it will fund the research unit “Chiral Phonons for Spintronics” over the next four years with a funding amount of around 3.2 million euros.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Sangeeta Sharma
Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI)
Theory for Dynamics in Quantum Materials
sangeeta.sharma(at)mbi-berlin.de
+49 30 6392-1350
mbi-berlin.de
Press release MBI, 3 April 2025