Electronics, spintronics and orbitronics

Abstract

Spintronics is a rapidly growing research field aimed at realizing practical devices that takes advantage of the electron spin as well as of its charge in conventional electronic devices. Much effort on the requirements for semiconductor spintronic devices reveals that the better understanding of spin currents in semiconductors is still a sufficiently challenging problem, though the first step in making the metal-based spin-technology amenable to industrial application came in 1988. However, in reality, an electron in strongly correlated-electron systems has three attributes: charge, spin and orbital. The orbital states of the electronic and magnetic phases could be controlled by external fields, such as electric, magnetic, stress, light or x-rays. Such control strategies for exploring the possibility of utilizing orbital degree of freedom may open the way to introduce the correlated-electron systems for a new type of electronics ? orbitronics. However, future electronic devices with increased performance, capability and functionality would rely on a complete understanding of the three control parameters.