Graphene was given the properties of "magnetic gold"

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Scientists have modified graphene and endowed it with the properties of cobalt and gold – magnetism and spin-orbit interaction. The development will help improve quantum computers. The results of a study by an international team with the participation of Russian scientists from St. Petersburg State University and TSU were published in the journal Nano Letters.

Graphene is the lightest and most durable of all materials existing today, which also has high electrical conductivity. When interacting with cobalt and gold, graphene not only retains its unique characteristics, but also partially adopts the properties of these metals – magnetism and spin-orbit interaction. Scientists have synthesized a system consisting of strictly ordered graphene on a magnetic cobalt substrate with an ultrathin layer of gold atoms between them, and then studied new properties of such a system.

“Classically, the spin of an electron can be thought of as a ‘magnet’ arising from the rotation of an electron around its axis,” explained Alexander Shikin, head of the study, an employee of St. Petersburg State University. – In this case, the electron also revolves around the nucleus, which creates a circular current, and hence a magnetic field. Thus, an interaction occurs between this “magnet” and the magnetic field, which is called spin-orbit. The intrinsic spin-orbit interaction of graphene is negligible, while for gold it is extremely high, so the interaction of gold with graphene leads to the appearance of a spin-orbit interaction in the latter, as well as the interaction of cobalt with graphene magnetizes it. “

One of the fields of application of the obtained magnetic-spin-orbital graphene can be a quantum computer. Now elements of information (qubits) for quantum computing are made mainly on cold atoms or superconducting transitions. The main problem with prototypes of quantum computers remains speed: qubits do not have time to perform the required number of operations and save the result of calculations due to interaction with the external environment. One of the solutions to this problem can be the manufacture of qubits on new “quantum” materials – for example, based on magnetic-spin-orbital graphene

. Source: indicator.ru