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Magnetic tunnel junctions based on magnesium oxide are used in high-density hard disk drives and form the basis of storage in data centres. Shinji Yuasa recounts how the first devices suitable for industrial application were developed.

Ferromagnetic resonance excitations offer a means to coherently manipulate the spin dynamics of spintronic devices and systems. A demonstration of the ability to control these excitations with electric fields alone could drastically reduce the power consumption of these devices.

A 0.8-nm-thick CoFe ultrathin film was deposited on a MgO tunneling barrier by means of cryogenic temperature sputtering. The cryogenic temperature sputtering at 100 K effectively suppressed island-like initial growth of CoFe without hampering grain-to-grain epitaxy, while CoFe deposited at 300 K exhibited rough and mixed interfaces. The flat and sharp interfaces in CoFe ultrathin films deposited at 100 K resulted in improved properties such as low magnetic damping, high tunneling magnetoresistance, and clear perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Furthermore, the clear interfaces were maintained even after annealing at 673 K, indicating high thermal stability.

Improvements in the microwave output efficiency of MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions brings them a step closer to practical applications and enables greater insight into the physics of spin transfer in such devices.

Spin currents form the basis of spintronics as a viable approach for future memory and information storage devices. Now, it is shown that a thermal spin current can be induced and controlled by applying a voltage.

The generation of a spin current by the anomalous Hall effect is observed by measuring the modulation in the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth of CoFeB/Cu/NiFe trilayer films.

Electric field control of magnetization is usually weak and this hampers its application for the ultralow-power-consumption spintronic devices. Here, the authors demonstrate a mechanism to enhance the control of magnetic anisotropy by voltage-induced electric quadrupole in a metal–dielectric interface.

Advances in available treatments for metastatic renal cell carcinoma affect the prevalence, morbidity, and mortality associated with skeletal-related events (SREs) owing to metastatic bone lesions. A newly published report shows that the prevalence and in-hospital mortality of SRE-associated hospitalizations are decreasing, while the associated costs are increasing.

Joule heating in a d.c. biased magnetic tunnel junction provides giant spin torque which amplifies an electric microwave applied to the device.

We prepared fully epitaxial Fe/LiF/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions. A large enhancement of interface-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy was realized by introducing a few atomic layers of lithium fluoride (LiF) between Fe and MgO. Coherent spin-dependent tunneling through LiF/MgO bilayer tunneling barrier resulted in large tunnel magnetoresistance. Atomic-scale interface engineering using fluoride can pave a new way to improve the spintronic devices.

Spin-torque nano-oscillators have sparked interest for their potential in neuromorphic computing, however concrete demonstration are limited. Here, Romera et al show how spin-torque nano-oscillators can mutually synchronise and recognize temporal patterns, much like neurons, illustrating their potential for neuromorphic computing.

Geometrical restriction is a serious obstacle for electrical manipulation of magnetism using the spin Hall effect. Here, Hibino et al. report a mechanism of magnetic-dependent charge-to-spin conversion in a ferromagnet due to spin-orbit coupling, which removes this restriction and achieves a large enhancement of the conversion efficiency.

Population coding, where populations of artificial neurons process information collectively can facilitate robust data processing, but require high circuit overheads. Here, the authors realize this approach with reduced circuit area and power consumption, by utilizing superparamagnetic tunnel junction based neurons.

Staining with a mitochondrial dye permits high-purity isolation of cardiomyocytes from embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells of several species, without genetic modification.

Furuzono et al. identify DS20060511, a skeletal muscle cell-specific GLUT4 translocation enhancer. They find that DS20060511 have remarkable effects on lowering blood glucose and enhancing skeletal muscle glucose uptake via GLUT4, highlighting its potential as antidiabetic medicine.

Room-temperature electrical switching of a topological antiferromagnetic state in polycrystalline Mn₃Sn thin films is demonstrated using the same protocol as that used for conventional ferromagnetic metals.

A network of four spin-torque nano-oscillators can be trained in real time to recognize spoken vowels, in a simple and scalable approach that could be exploited for large-scale neural networks.

Spoken-digit recognition using a nanoscale spintronic oscillator that mimics the behaviour of neurons demonstrates the potential of such oscillators for realizing large-scale neural networks in future hardware.

This study clarified a large dielectric constant of MgO tunnel barriers in epitaxial magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ). The MgO tunnel barrier is subjected to compressive strain because of restraint from the underlying layers. We demonstrated that the dielectric constant of the MgO tunnel barrier and voltage controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) coefficient of the epitaxial MTJ enhanced with increasing the compressive strain. Such strain engineering in epitaxial stacks makes simple rocksalt tunnel barriers more attractive for spintronics applications.

Highly efficient voltage control of magnetic anisotropy has been demonstrated utlizing an ultrathin Ir-doped Fe layer in MgO-based magnetic tunnel junctions. Ir adoms are dispersed inside the ultrathin Fe layer through the interdiffusion process. Large spin–orbit interaction of Ir atoms having proximity-induced magnetism is attributed to the enhancement of the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect. High speed response of the VCMA effect was also confirmed by voltage-induced ferromagnetic resonance. The achieved properties first satisfy the required specification for the new type of magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) driven by voltage.