7 ms·

Sort of unfortunate to reuse this term which has been a field of study in solid state physics for a very long time: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintronics

by prpl 5y ago

Sort of unfortunate to reuse this term which has been a field of study in solid state physics for a very long time: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintronics https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintronics

lapetitejort 5y ago
The main difference is that spinning gears makes sense, whereas spinning electrons do not! (I kid of course. Spin in physics relates to inherent angular momentum. If you wonder why that exists, you may also want to wonder why mass exists.)
- whatshisface 5y ago
  Intrinsic angular momentum is weirder than intrinsic mass because you can take it out and put it back in - although for most particles you're not allowed to have zero. But you are allowed to take 1 from an electron to go from 1/2 to -1/2. If that is not enough, you can go back from -1/2 to 1/2 by changing your basis vectors. ;)
  - jeffwass 5y ago
    Further - paired electrons can collectively form the spin-zero singlet state, or spin-one triplet state. In either case the two electrons, which are fermions independently, together act like a boson (eg, Cooper Pairs in a Superconductor). Addition of quantum angular momentum is really weird.
  - jacobolus 5y ago
    I don’t know enough physics and haven’t put in enough effort to understand https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.10478.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.10478.pdf but it seems intriguing.
    - whatshisface 5y ago
      I thought complex phase precession was from energy, I don't see how it's related to spin.
jeffwass 5y ago
Agreed, it's an unfortunate namespace collision. Spintronics is a really cool area of physics, with decades of research. Electrons have spin. Although 'classical semiconductors' exploit the electron's spin via the Fermi-Dirac distribution in transistors, the actual sign / direction of the 'spin' is ignored in everyday electronics. Making use of this available spin degree-of-freedom opens up a whole wealth of new possibilities. Spintronics has already revolutionized certain industries (eg, GMR in magnetic hard drives), and there are further open areas of research (eg, spin as qubit basis states in quantum computers).
mumblemumble 5y ago
But then, all puns are unfortunate. It's kind of their thing.
spoonjim 5y ago
Would you say that about Apple computer, or Continental Airlines?
pgboswell 5y ago
I think there's space for two spintronics. They are different enough that I don't think anyone will get confused.
- hexo 5y ago
  Unfortunately, no. I do really think this only pollutes namespace. You could have picked better name without

by prpl 5y ago

lapetitejort 5y ago

The main difference is that spinning gears makes sense, whereas spinning electrons do not! (I kid of course. Spin in physics relates to inherent angular momentum. If you wonder why that exists, you may also want to wonder why mass exists.)

whatshisface 5y ago
Intrinsic angular momentum is weirder than intrinsic mass because you can take it out and put it back in - although for most particles you're not allowed to have zero. But you are allowed to take 1 from an electron to go from 1/2 to -1/2. If that is not enough, you can go back from -1/2 to 1/2 by changing your basis vectors. ;)
- jeffwass 5y ago
  Further - paired electrons can collectively form the spin-zero singlet state, or spin-one triplet state. In either case the two electrons, which are fermions independently, together act like a boson (eg, Cooper Pairs in a Superconductor). Addition of quantum angular momentum is really weird.
- jacobolus 5y ago
  I don’t know enough physics and haven’t put in enough effort to understand https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.10478.pdf https://arxiv.org/pdf/1910.10478.pdf but it seems intriguing.
  - whatshisface 5y ago
    I thought complex phase precession was from energy, I don't see how it's related to spin.

jeffwass 5y ago

Agreed, it's an unfortunate namespace collision. Spintronics is a really cool area of physics, with decades of research. Electrons have spin. Although 'classical semiconductors' exploit the electron's spin via the Fermi-Dirac distribution in transistors, the actual sign / direction of the 'spin' is ignored in everyday electronics. Making use of this available spin degree-of-freedom opens up a whole wealth of new possibilities. Spintronics has already revolutionized certain industries (eg, GMR in magnetic hard drives), and there are further open areas of research (eg, spin as qubit basis states in quantum computers).

mumblemumble 5y ago

But then, all puns are unfortunate. It's kind of their thing.

spoonjim 5y ago

Would you say that about Apple computer, or Continental Airlines?

pgboswell 5y ago

I think there's space for two spintronics. They are different enough that I don't think anyone will get confused.

hexo 5y ago
Unfortunately, no. I do really think this only pollutes namespace. You could have picked better name without