Developing new magnetic materials and spin-based functionalities

The focus of our research is to develop materials and devices that take advantage of electron's spin. Electrons posses charge and spin. Modern semiconductor technologies utilize electron's "charge" to process and store information. On the other hand, magnetism arise from the collective interaction of electron's spin. Spintronics combines the two handles and provides new paradigms for functional information processing and storing devices.
 Our group works on all aspects of Spintronics research: physical science, materials engineering, device processing and characterization. We study a wide range of materials including metals, semiconductors and insulators, inorganic and organic materials including graphene, and heterostructures to develop novel spintronics devices.


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  2025.07.09

[Press Release (in Japanese)] A NIMS research team led by postdoctoral researcher R. R. Sihombing and Group Leader H. Sukegawa et al. has successfully applied "high-entropy oxides" combining multiple metal elements to the barrier layer of TMR (tunnel magnetoresistance) devices, achieving strong perpendicular magnetization, large TMR ratio (resistance change ratio), and low electrical resistance simultaneously. This is expected to lead to further miniaturization of devices, and improved performance of HDDs (hard disk drives) and MRAMs (magnetoresistive random access memory).

NIMS Press Release

Paper: R. R. Sihombing, T. Scheike, J. Uzuhashi, H. Yasufuku, T. Ohkubo, Z. Wen, S. Mitani, and H. Sukegawa, Mater. Today, In-press version available, Open access

  2025.07.08

Explanation of a paper by H. Koizumi et al., Visiting Researcher
"Interface perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in heterostructures consisting of CoFeB and conductive rock-salt Li-Ti-O" posted
Research page

Paper: H. Koizumi, Z. Wen, J. Uzuhashi, T. Ohkubo, H. Sukegawa, and S. Mitani, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 58, 16LT01 (2025).

  2025.06.18

[Press Release (in Japanese)] A NIMS research team led by Senior Researcher K. Masuda and Guest Researcher Y. Miura, and including Visiting Researcher T. Scheike, Group Leader H. Sukegawa, Distinguished Researcher S. Mitani, and Group Leader Y. Kotzuka, has proposed a new theory explaining the phenomenon of tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) oscillation depending on the barrier thickness. This TMR oscillation is a phenomenon clearly observed in conjunction with the world-record TMR ratio achieved by Spintronics Group in 2023, and elucidating its origin is expected to directly contribute to further improvements in the TMR ratio.

NIMS Press Release

Paper: K. Masuda, T. Scheike, H. Sukegawa, Y. Kozuka, S. Mitani, and Y. Miura, Phys. Rev. B 111, L220406 (2025). (Open access)

  2025.05.12

[Press Release (in Japanese)] A research group led by Assistant Prof. Taisuke Horaguchi (Fukuoka Univ.), Prof. Yukio Nozaki (Keio Univ.), Group Leader Hiroaki Sukegawa (NIMS), and Associate Prof. Mamoru Matsuo (Kavli Institute for Theoretical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences University), has discovered that "nano-gradient" materials, which combine common materials such as silicon (Si) and aluminum (Al) at the nanometer scale, produce magnetic torque with an efficiency that exceeds that of platinum, a rare metal.

Keio Univ. Press Release

Paper: Sci. Adv. 11, eadr9481 (2025). (Open access)

  2025.04.01

Rombang Rizky Sihombing becomes a Post-doc Researcher, and T. Souda, Graduate Student (M1), joined as a new member.

  2025.02.20

Explanation of a paper by J. Song NIMS PD et al.
"Incommensurate superlattice modulation surviving down to an atomic scale in sputter-deposited Co/Pt(111) epitaxial multilayered films" posted
Research page

Paper: APL Mater. 12, 101120 (2024). (Open access)

  2025.01.16

Mouli Roy Chowdhury, Former ICGP graduate student (Now: IIT Guwahati, India), received the Best Poster Award at the 16th Joint Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials and Intermag (2025 Joint MMM-Intermag), New Orleans, USA
M. Roy Chowdhury, C. He, K. Tang, H. Koizumi, Z. Wen, S. Thota, H. Sukegawa, and S. Mitani
"Development of Highly Conductive SrMoO₃ Epitaxial Thin Films for Advanced Spintronic Applications"(Presentation: FQ-07)

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  2025.01.15

A paper entitled "Enhanced tunnel magnetoresistance of Fe/MgGa₂O₄/Fe(001) magnetic tunnel junctions by interface-tuning with atomic-scale MgO insertion layers" published in Applied Physics Letters by Rombang Rizky Sihombing, a Ph. D student, et al. has been selected as an Editor's Pick of Applied Physics Letters (Open access)

Appl. Phys. Lett. 126, 022407 (2025)

  2025.01.06

Talluri Manoj, Post-doc Researcher, joined as a new member.

  2024.10.01

J. Song becomes a Post-doc Researcher, and T. R. Kakinada, Graduate Student, joined as a new member.

  2024.09.02

T. Ma, Post-doc Researcher, joined as a new member.

  2024.07.13

Spintronics Group page has been renewed.

  2023.06.28

Naoko Yoshimoto, Technical staff, joined as a new member.

  2023.04.01

Dr. Hiroaki Sukegawa was inaugurated as a group leader of the Spintronics Group.

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