Controlling spin and Alzheimer’s biological pathway: News from the College

Professor Paul Elliott, Group Leader at Imperial's UK Dementia Research Institute Here's a batch of fresh news and announcements from across Imperial. From materials research that could help with the development of low-power next-generation technologies, to the discovery of a biological pathway that may explain the underlying mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease, here is some quick-read news from across the College. Controlling spin. Sustainable and efficient technologies rely on the precise control of a fundamental property of charge carriers and light waves called spin. Currently, controlling spin is critical in computer memory and 3D displays, but future opportunities include quantum computing, high-precision sensing, and super-secure authentication devices. Established strategies to control spin rely on materials and approaches that have serious shortcomings: they're expensive, complicated, energy-intensive and can only operate at ultracold temperatures. A team in the Departments of Materials and Chemistry are working on a new strategy, based on a property known as chirality.