January 06, 2010 – January 09, 2010

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Location

Utrecht University, The Netherlands

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Organizers

Rembert Duine and Henk Stoof, Utrecht University

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Overview

The spin of electrons plays a crucial role in understanding condensed-matter systems and their magnetically-ordered phases. Furthermore, in certain systems, such as graphene or bilayer semiconductors, extra degrees of freedom called pseudospins play a similar role as the intrinsic electron spin. Manipulation of spins and magnetism has been a motivating goal in a great deal of condensed-matter research. Examples are spin transfer, i.e., the manipulation of ferromagnetic order with spin-polarized currents, the spin Hall effect, the control of magnetism by ultrafast laser pulses, and magneto-electric effects.

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The hyperfine states of cold atoms play an important role in cold-atom systems and can be manipulated by radiofrequency pulses. In addition to the intrinsic interest in these systems, cold-atom systems are often advertised as simulators for electronic condensed-matter systems. The reason is the large amount of tunability of almost all the system parameters, such as potential, disorder and interactions. The most important example in this respect is mimicking the famous Hubbard model to explore its relevance for high-temperature superconductivity and antiferromagnetism.

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The goal of this short conference is to bring together leading experts on spintronics and spin-related phenomena in conventional condensed-matter systems, and on cold atoms, thereby stimulating cross-fertilization of these fields.