Cherry blossom viewing
We had a cherry blossom viewing party (“Hanami” in Japanese), which also served as a welcome party for new members.
Mr. Sato returned from ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
Yuma Sato (D3) returned from ETH Zurich (Switzerland) after three months overseas training.
Devapriya joined us as a Postdoctoral Fellow of CSIS.
Dr. Devapriya Manappetty Shaji joined us as a Postdoctoral Fellow of CSIS.
Dr. Uchimura, Mr. Ahn, and Ms. Yoshida awarded the Graduate School of Engineering Award, etc.
Dr. Uchimura was awarded the Graduate School of Engineering Award, Mr. Ahn was awarded the Outstanding Student Award of the Tohoku Chapter of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of Japan (IEEJ), and Ms. Yoshida was awarded the Outstanding Student Award of the Tohoku Chapter of the Institute of Electronics, Informationand Communication Engineers (IEICE). Congratulations!
Commencement Ceremoney
The Commencement Ceremony was held. Mr. Chiba received the Doctor Degree of Engineering, Mr. Iwai, Mr. Kino, Mr. Saijo, and Mr. Yamamoto received the Master Degree of Engineering, and Mr. Ahn, Mr. Kazami, Mr. Fushimi, and Ms. Yoshida received the Bachelor Degree of Engineering.
Congratulations!
Mr. Iwai, Mr. Kino, Mr. Saijo, and Mr. Yamamoto will take off into the society. We wish you great success in the future!
In addition, Mr. Ahn will be taking a leave of absence from April to fulfill his military service in South Korea. We presented him with a commemorative message sheet.
Mr. Iida returned from the University of Gothenburg
Hitoshi Iida (M1) returned from the University of Gothenburg after one and a half months overseas training.
Dr. Aakanksha Sud is awarded the Tokin Foundation Encouragement Award
Dr. Aakanksha Sud (Assistant Professor of the Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences (FRIS)) was awarded the Tokin Foundation Encouragement Award for her research on “Nonlinear spin dynamics and quantum geometry in magnonic systems”.
Congratulations!
“Iwate Spintronics School, 2026 Winter” co-sponsored
The Iwate Spintronics School, 2026 Winter was held in Iwate Prefecture (Organizer: Koichi Oyanagi [Iwate Univ.], Ryuhei Kohno [Tohoku Univ.], Ryo Iguchi [NIMS}, Shunsuke Fukami [Tohoku Univ.], and Gerrit Bauer [Tohoku Univ.]).
We had 94 participants from 13 countries and regions including 16 invited speakers from overseas and 12 domestic invited speakers.
From our lab, Prof. Ohno, Prof. Fukami, Dr. Cacoilo, Dr. Uchimura, Mr. Kinoshita, Mr. Tasaki, and Ms. del Pino participated in.
We had a great time with excellent scientific discussion and excursion.
A research paper on optimal isotope control for quantum bits published in MRS Bulletin
The paper, titled “A unified periodic table of quantum coherence for isotope engineering” by S.Kanai, S. Suzuki, and C.P. Anderson was published in MRS Bulletin.
Dr. Aurelien Lagarrigue took off
Dr. Aurelien Lagarrigue resigned from the Specially-Appointed Research Fellow of RIEC and left for Francce to be assigned to a Researcher at University of Paris-Saclay. We wish you great success!
Mr. Chiba is awarded the X-nics Student Presentation Poster Award
Mr. Shunya Chiba (D3) is awarded the X-nics Student Presentation Poster Award for his poster presentation in the annual meeting of the Innovative Spintronics X Semiconductor Research Hub of the MEXT Initiative to Establish Next-generation Novel Integrated Circuits Centers (X-NICS).
The award is given to his presentation titled “Comparative Study of Current-Induced Torque in Cr/CoFeB/MgO and W/CoFeB/MgO”. Congratulations!
A Technical Review paper on spin-based computing published in Nature Reviews Physics
A Technical Review paper titled “Metrics for spin-based computing” by H. Kurebayashi, G. Finocchio, K. E.-Sitte, J. C. Gartside, T. Taniguchi, A. Litvinenko, A. Kumar, J. Åkerman, E. Vasilaki, K. Selçuk, K. Y. Çamsarı, A. Madhavan, and S. Fukami was published in Nature Reviews Physics.
Farewell party
We held a farewell party for members who are going to graduate this March (Uchimura san, Iwai san, Kino san, Saijo san and Yamamoto san).
Ski/Snowboard trip
We enjoyed skiing and snowboarding at the Zao Onsen Mountain & Snow Resort on February 21 and 22.
Mr. Iida left for the University of Gothenburg
Hitoshi Iida (M1) leaves for the University of Gothenburg for overseas training.
Carmen joined us as a Research Student
Ms. Carmen del Pino Batlles of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid joined us as a Research Student(DC).
Paper on emergent impedance of antiferromagnetic domain wall published in Physical Review B
Our paper “Emergent impedance due to antiferromagnetic domain wall dynamics” by Y. Yamane, J. J. Nakane, Y. Araki, and J. Ieda was published in Physical Review B.
Mr. Sato left for ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
Yuma Sato (D3) leaves for ETH Zurich (Switzerland) for an overseas training.
Paper on reliable magnetometry published in Physical Review Applied
Our paper “Reliable magnetometry for antiferromagnets and thin films: Correcting substrate artifacts in Mn3Sn/MgO systems” by K. Gas and M. Sawicki was published in Physical Review Applied.
Perspective paper on “orbitronics” published in Nature Physics
A Perspective paper “Challenges and opportunities in orbitronics” by S. Fukami, K.-J. Lee, and M. Kläui was published in Nature Physics.
Year-End, Welcome, Celebration, and Farewell Party
We held the 2025 year-end party together with a welcome party for new Bachelor 3rd grade students, a celebration party for promoted members, and a farewell party for a member leaving soon.
Presentation given in IEDM2025
Our collaborative research with UC Santa Barbara and TSMC “BDAC-Free p-bits: Asynchronous Self-Coloring and On-Chip Annealing” by K. Selcuk, N. A. Aadit, C. Delacour, J. Q. Silva, N. S. Singh, H. Kaneko, S. Kanai, Y.-J. Wu, Y.-H. Chen, Y.-S. Chen, Y. C. Ong, K.-C. Huang, H. Chuang, H. Ohno, S. Fukami and K. Y. Camsari was presented in the 71st Annual IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM 2025) on December 9th in San Francisco.
Press release: “New Fully Digital Design Paves the Way for Scalable Probabilistic Computing”
Futsal （The third-place match）
The third-place match of the ECEI (Group of Electrical Engineering, Communication Engineering, Electronic Engineering, and Information Engineering) Futsal Tournament was held.
(We won at the quarterfinal match on July 28 and lost at the semifinal match on September 30.)
We lost the game by 1-4 and finished 4th out of 14 participating labs. Next year, we’ll aim for the top three, just like we did in the Ekiden this year!
(Video during the game.)
Ekiden (long-distance relay)
The 59th Ekiden (long-distance relay) Race was held in the Aobayama New Campus. Fukami lab and Otsuka lab formed two joint teams (A and B). Out of 44 total entries, Team A placed 3rd and Team B placed 32nd.
<Record>
2018: 14th
2019: 13th
2022: 4th
2023: 4th
2024: 4th
We finally achieved 3rd place. Great job, everyone!
Paper published in npj 2D Materials and Applications
Our paper “Strategies to search for two-dimensional materials with long spin qubit coherence time” by M. Y. Toriyama, J. Zhan, S. Kanai, and G. Galli was published in npj 2D Materials and Applications.
Ms. Kaneko left for UC Santa Barbara (USA)
Haruna Kaneko (D2) leaves for UC Santa Barbara (USA) for an overseas training.
Rishi left after the three months of stay
Mr. Rishi Saddani (Visiting Student (DC)) returned to Imperial College London after three months stay.
Dr. Sud and Mr. Chiku won the Best Poster Award
Dr. Aakanksha Sud and Mr. Harumi Chiku (M1) won the Best Poster Award for their poster presentations at The International Symposium MSSp2025: Materials Science and Spintronics for Sustainable Futures from Tohoku held in Tohoku University from November 4th to 7th. The titles of their presentations were as follows:
Aakanksha Sud: Chiral Magnon–Phonon coupling in synthetic antiferromagnets for nonreciprocal energy transport
Harumi Chiku: Wireless signal energy harvesting based on field-free ferromagnetic resonance in magnetic tunnel junction
Congratulations!
MSSp2025 held
The International Symposium MSSp2025: Materials Science and Spintronics for Sustainable Futures from Tohoku was held in Tohoku University from November 4th to 7th.
We had 285 participants in total including 223 on-site participants.
During the symposium, an award speech and ceremony for Assoc. Prof. Jiahao Han who received the 2025 Core Research Cluster for Spintronics Award (CRC-Spin Award 2025) were also conducted.
Presentation given in The 70th Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM 2025)
Our members, Assoc. Prof. Shun Kanai, Mr. Yuma Sato (D3), Mr. Kazunari Kino (M2), Mr. Hitoshi Iida (M1), and Mr. Kota Nihei (M1) attended “The 70th Annual Conference on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM 2025)” held in Florida, USA on October 27-31, and gave presentations.
Softball Tournament, The 2nd Game
The second game in the group stage the softball tournament was held. After a fierce battle, the score was tied at 8-8.
We lost the match by a rock-paper-scissors tiebreaker.
Imoni party
We held an “Imoni party”, a traditional event in the Tohoku region similar to barbecue.
We deepened our bonds while enjoying Sendai-style and Yamagata-style imoni stew and BBQ under fine weather.
Mr. Chiba returned from the University of Gothenburg
Shunya Chiba (D3) returned from the University of Gothenburg after a seven-months overseas training.
We exhibited at the “RIEC Open House 2025”
On October 11, we exhibited at the RIEC Open House 2025, held as part of the Tohoku University Research Institutes Open House “Katahira Festival 2025”.
In addition to a popular attraction for kids “Gauss Accelerator” and a challenge to create high-quality random numbers by hand, we presented several games including “Quantum Poker” in which principles of quantum mechanics such as uncertainty and entanglement are applied, with three members from the STAGE Center at the University of Chicago, our collaborative research partner. Many visitors enjoyed our exhibits.
The next event is scheduled for October 2027.
Paper on the effect of Joule heating on SOT switching of Mn3Sn published in Appl. Phys. Lett.
Our paper “Temperature dependence of current-induced switching in thin epitaxial films of Mn3Sn: Revealing the dominant role of spin–orbit torque” by K. Nihei, T. Uchimura, J. Han, K. Gas, S. Kanai, H. Ohno, and S. Fukami was published in Appl. Phys. Letters.
Antonia left after the three months of stay
Ms. Antonia Niklasch (Research Student) returned to Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz after three months stay.
Paper on non-reciprocal motion of skyrmion tube published in Nature Communications
Our paper “Observation of a non-reciprocal skyrmion Hall effect of hybrid chiral skyrmion tubes in synthetic antiferromagnetic multilayers ” by T. Dohi, M. Bhukta, F. Kammerbauer, V. K. Bharadwaj, R. Zarzuela, A. Sud, M. -A. Syskaki, D. M. Tran, T. Denneulin, S. Wintz, M. Weigand, S. Finizio, J. Raabe, R. Frömter, R. E. D. -Borkowski, J. Sinova, and M. Kläui was published in Nature Communications.
Press release: “Three-dimensional magnetic vortices in synthetic antiferromagnets move differently than magnetic vortices in two dimensions” (Link to a webpage of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
Paper on thermal fluctuation of chiral antiferromagnets published in Phys. Rev. Lett
Our paper “Electrically Tunable Picosecond-Scale Octupole Fluctuations in Chiral Antiferromagnets” by S. T. Konakanchi, S. Banerjee, M. M. Rahman, Y. Yamane, S. Kanai, S. Fukami, and P. Upadhyaya was published in Physical Review Letters.
The paper was selected as the Editor’s Suggestion.
Veronika left after the three weeks of stay
Ms. Veronika Růžičková (Research Student) returned to the Czech Technical University after three weeks stay.
Prof. Fukami awarded the KDDI Foundation Award 2025
Professor Shunsuke Fukami is awarded the KDDI Foundation Award 2025 for outstanding studies on “Spintronics for energy-efficient information technologies”. Congratulations! The award ceremony will be held on October 22nd in Tokyo.
Welcome party for Antonia, Victor, Veronika, and Rishi
We had a welcome party for Antonia (Univ. Mainz), Victor (Dual PhD between Lorrain and Tohoku), Veronika (Czech Tech Univ), and Rishi (Imperial College London) in a restaurant near the Sendai Station.
Paper on size dependence of SAF-s-MTJ published in Appl. Phys. Lett.
Our paper “Size dependence of the properties of synthetic-antiferromagnet-based stochastic magnetic tunnel junctions for probabilistic computing” by T. Kinoshita, J-Y. Yoon, N. Caçoilo, R. Mochizuki, H. Kaneko, S. Kanai, H, Ohno, and S. Fukami was published in Appl. Phys. Lett.
This paper is selected for Editor’s Pick.
Presentation given in the 86th JSAP Autumn Meeting 2025
Our members, Assoc. Prof. J. Han, Dr. Marui, Uchimura (D3), Sato (D2), Kino (M2), Saijo (M2), Iida (M1), and Nihei (M1) attended the 86th JSAP Autumn Meeting 2025 held in Meijo University in Aichi Prefecture and gave presentations.
Rishi joined us as a Visiting Student
Mr. Rishi Saddani of Imperial College London joined us as a Visiting Student (DC).
Veronika joined us as a Research Student
Ms. Veronika Růžičková of the Czech Technical University joined us as a Research Student.
Softball tournament 2025 started
The softball tournament 2025 just started.
We won the opening game by a score of 7-4!
Paper on high-speed control of Mn3Sn published in Science
Our paper “Electrical coherent drivingof chiral antiferromagnet” by Y. Takeuchi, Y. Sato, Y. Yamane, J-Y. Yoon, Y. Kanno, T. Uchimura, K. V. De Zoysa, J. Han, S. Kanai, J. Ieda, H. Ohno, and S. Fukami was published in Science.
(The link above is for a free-access website, in which you can see the entire article and download the pdf file regardless of the subscription.)
Press release: “Antiferromagnets Outperform Ferromagnets in Ultrafast, Energy-Efficient Memory Operations“
Presentation given in the SPIE Optics + Photonics
Our members, Prof. S. Kanai and Prof. Gas attended “SPIE Optics + Photonics” held in San Diego, CA, USA, on August 3-7 and gave presentations.
Prof. Dietl is awarded the Tohoku University International Award
Prof. Tomasz Dietl, who served as a Visiting Professor from 2018-2020, is awarded the Tohoku University International Award – Special Award. As part of Tohoku University’s Homecoming Day 2025, scheduled for Saturday, October 11 at the Tohoku University Centennial Hall (Kawauchi Hagi Hall), the university will host an award ceremony.
Congratulations, Prof. Dietl!
Mr. Chiba is awarded the Best Poster Award
Mr. Shunya Chiba (D3) is awarded the Best Poster Award for his poster presentation at the Swedish-Korean Orbitronics Workshop (SKOW 2025) for his presentation titled “Comparative Study of Current-Induced Torque in Cr/CoFeB/MgO and W/CoFeB/MgO”. Congratulations!
