Pietro Gambardella

Professor Gambardella leads an experimental research group investigating magnetic systems and devices for applications in magnetoelectronics, such as magnetic memories and sensors.

His group focuses on the study of new physical properties emerging from the interplay of magnetism and electron transport, spin-orbit coupling and spin relaxation as well as on the fabrication of new materials such as thin film heterostructures, coupled nanomagnets and single atom magnets. The group further develops experimental techniques that probe magnetic phenomena with high temporal and spatial resolution, including synchrotron radiation spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy, magneto-optics, and time-resolved electrical measurements.

Magnets possess both strength and memory. These two properties make them useful for a broad variety of applications, which involve action at a distance or retention of digital information. The continuous trend towards miniaturization and integration of electronic devices, however, poses formidable challenges to develop materials that exhibit robust magnetization when downscaled to nanometer dimensions. One of the primary goals of Gambardella’s group is thus to realize stable nanoscale magnets, from multilayer structures down to the ultimate limit of single atoms, and tune the magnetism of these systems to exhibit specific properties. Systems with reduced magnetic volume offer the additional possibility to control the magnetization by means of local electric fields and currents rather than by external fields, with significant gains in terms of speed of operation and energy consumption. Finding new methods to reversibly switch the magnetization in electronic devices is another central theme of Gambardella’s research, which is pursued starting from the synthesis of magnetic heterostructures up to the level of prototype memory and logic systems.