Center for Science and Innovation in Spintronics, Tohoku University

22/04/2026

A paper by Prof. Shun Kanai and colleagues, including Profs. Mehrdad Elyasi, Hideo Ohno, Gerit Bauer, and Shunsuke Fukami, has been published, reporting the first experimental determination of the "attempt time" in nanomagnets after more than 70 years of assumptions.

The relaxation time (τ) of thermally activated phenomena in general is described by the Arrhenius law (τ = τ₀ exp(E/kT)), where τ₀ represents the fundamental time constant, so-called the attempt time. While τ₀ can be experimentally determined in most physical and chemical systems, this has long been challenging in magnetic systems, leading to an unverified assumption for 70 years.

In this work, they establish a method to experimentally determine τ₀ in magnetic systems, find a significant deviation from the long-standing assumption, and propose a theoretical model that explains the gap. The findings are particularly important for applications in probabilistic computing, an emerging paradigm in the AI era.

Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43246-026-01149-2
Press release: https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/en/press/first_measurement_of_attempt_time_after_70_years.html

For 70 years, researchers have thought that "attempt time" is one nanosecond. New research at Tohoku University turns this assumption on its head.

02/03/2026

A Technical Review entitled “Metrics for Spin-Based Computing” was published in Nature Reviews Physics on February 27.
The paper was written by several CSIS researchers, including Prof. Kurebayashi (jointly appointed at University College London), Profs. Åkerman and Kumar (jointly appointed at the University of Gothenburg), and Prof. Fukami, together with world-leading researchers in spin-based computing.

Read the paper here:

A number of different platforms for spin-based computing have emerged over the past few years, offering energy-efficient computing methods. This Technical Review identifies key metrics that must be evaluated to benchmark their performance.

02/03/2026

We would like to announce that two assistant professorships are currently open at our center.
Further details including application procedures are available on our webpage.
https://www.csis-crc.tohoku.ac.jp/en/news-detail.php?id=126

14/01/2026

Professor Shunsuke Fukami has published a Perspective paper entitled ”Challenges and opportunities in orbitronics" in Nature Physics with Prof. K.-J. Lee of KAIST (Korea) and Prof. M. Kläui of the University of Mainz (Germany). In the paper, experimental and theoretical progress on orbitronics, a new direction of spintronics utilizing an orbital degree of freedom of electrons, is reviewed and future challenges in terms of fundamental physics and applications to nonvolatile memory technologies are discussed.

Orbitronics uses the electron’s orbital angular momentum to enable next-generation memory and computing technologies. This Perspective outlines recent advances, key challenges and future directions in this rapidly evolving field.

18/12/2025

Aakanksha Sud has been awarded the Best Poster Award by Materials Science and Spintronics for Sustainable Futures program at Tohoku University(MSSp2025). Her presentation focuses on chiral magnon–phonon coupling in synthetic antiferromagnets, demonstrating how surface acoustic waves interact selectively with acoustic and optical magnon modes. The study uncovered chirality-dependent hybridization and nonreciprocal mode splitting, which can be tuned via interlayer exchange coupling in a synthetic antiferromagnet. She commented, "We aim to engineer chiral magnon-phonon platforms for directional spin-wave transport and low-power nonreciprocal phononic devices. She is an assistant professor in the group of Prof. Shunsuke Fukami, member of CSIS.

The 9th Symposium for the Core Research Clusters for Materials Science and Spintronics andthe 8th Symposium on International Joint Graduate Programs in Materials Science and Spintronics

09/12/2025

Soma Miki, has been awarded a Best Poster Award, by the Material Science and Spintronics for Sustainable Futures in Tohoku University (MSSp2025). His presentation focuses on the detection of a giant orbital current induced by an ultrafast laser pulse irradiated onto a bilayer thin film consisting of a magnetic metal and a nonmagnetic light metal, demonstrating a length scale different from the conventional observation. THz radiation originating from orbital currents was observed in a nickel/chromium bilayer. Its radiation intensity was greater than that of the other light metals. Furthermore, it was found to possess a diffusion length in chromium different from that observed in electrical measurements. He commented,"Although the mechanism of orbital current generation remains largely unexplained, we aim to clarify its physical properties through methods utilizing light."　He is an assistant professor in the group of Prof. Shigemi Mizukami, a member of CSIS.

The 9th Symposium for the Core Research Clusters for Materials Science and Spintronics andthe 8th Symposium on International Joint Graduate Programs in Materials Science and Spintronics

02/12/2025

Ali Md Arafat has been awarded a Best Poster Award by Symposium on Material Science and Spintronics for Sustainable Futures from Tohoku University (MSSp2025).
His presentation focuses on the study how native defects influence the inhomogeneity of the 2×2 charge-density-wave (CDW) phase in 1T-TiSe₂ using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). STM images reveal that clustered Ti defects locally suppress the 2×2 modulation, exposing the underlying 1×1 lattice.
Such suppressed regions form charge density wave (CDW) domain boundaries and shrink the corresponding domain size. He commented “In future work, I aim to investigate how defect-induced CDW inhomogeneity influences the emergence of superconductivity in 1T TiSe₂."　
He is in our Graduate Program in Spintronics under the supervision of Prof. Tadahiro Komeda, a member of CSIS.

The 9th Symposium for the Core Research Clusters for Materials Science and Spintronics andthe 8th Symposium on International Joint Graduate Programs in Materials Science and Spintronics

22/10/2025

Professor Seki has published a paper together with co-authors (researchers from multiple institutions) on "Efficient Manipulation of Magnetic Domain Wall by Dual Spin-Orbit Torque in Synthetic Antiferromagnets”.　Dual torques from electron spins are found to drive the displacement of a magnetic domain wall.
Professor Takeshi Seki is a member of CSIS.

Researchers harnessed dual spin torques in a cobalt-iridium-platinum multilayer structure, paving the way for low-power spintronic memory devices.

09/10/2025

An introductory video to the Oogane (Spintronics) Lab., a CSIS member, made by their students.　You are very welcome to contact them directly to discuss possible collaborations and engagement.　

An introductory video to the Oogane (Spintronics) Lab., a CSIS member, made by their students.　You are very welcome to contact them directly to discuss possi...

30/09/2025

Dr.Jiahao Han has been awarded the "CRC-Spin Award 2025”, in CRC-Spin and CSIS, Tohoku Univ.
The citation reads “Manipulating magnon transmission and quantum geometry by spin textures.” Spin textures bring rich opportunities to unveil intriguing spintronic phenomena and design spintronic devices for memory, computing and signal processing. By interacting spin waves (magnons) and electronic eigenstates with various spin textures, Jiahao developed original concepts and approaches that excited several frontiers of spintronics with coherent, antiferromagnetic and topological features, showing broad impact in condensed-matter physics and spintronics.
He is a member of Prof. Fukami’s group, and both are affiliated with CSIS.