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Welcome to Dr. LaBella's Research GroupThe familiar property of magnetism arises from the spin of the electron or its intrinsic angular momentum. The spin of the electron has tremendous impact far beyond holding artwork to a refrigerator. For example, the skyrocketing increase in storage capacity of modern hard disk drives is fueled by the invention of giant magneto resistive (GMR) read heads. These GMR devices were invented after scientists became familiar with how currents of spin polarized electrons travel (or scatter) in ferromagnetic materials. Researchers are now interested in utilizing the spin of the electron in semiconductor devices for data processing. There is hope that these new spintronic devices will operate at higher speeds and consume less power than conventional devices, helping extend Moore's Law in the post-CMOS era.Professor LaBella's research group focuses their efforts in the area of spintronics in these key areas:
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