Fyzikální ústav Akademie věd ČR

Joerg Wunderlich from the Department of Spintronics and Nanoelectronics of the Institute of Physics ASCR, with his colleagues from the UK and Germany, was awarded the prestigious ERC Synergy Grant for the project “Spin-charge conversion and spin caloritronics at hybrid organic-inorganic interfaces”. The project has started in August 2014 and will run till July 2020. Besides the Institute of Physics, the other participating organizations are the University of Cambridge, Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, Imperial College in London, and the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Following the ERC Advanced Grant awarded in 2011 to Tomas Jungwirtha, Joerg Wunderilich brings yet another grant from the ERC (European Research Council) to the Institute of Physics ASCR.

Figure: Illustration of one of the perceived spintronic and thermoelectric devices combining organic semiconductors and inorganic magnetic materials.

The project combines theoretical and experimental research whose aim is to connect two distinct fields of organic semiconductors and of spintronics. Organic semiconductors already play an important role in optoelectronics, e.g., in the development of flexible screens and solar cells. Spintronics in inorganic materials, on the other hand, finds applications in magnetic detectors or technologies for storing information. The goal of the project is to find synergies between physics and chemistry in these distinct fields and to open a path to entirely new types of optoelectronic, spintronic, and thermoelectric devices utilizing organic-inorganic hybrid interfaces.

The official page of the project is at http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/191154_en.html.