Perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions based on MgO/CoFeB structures are of particular interest for magnetic random-access memories because of their excellent thermal stability, scaling potential, and power dissipation. However, the major challenge of current-induced switching in the nanopillars with both a large tunnel magnetoresistance ratio and a low junction resistance is still to be met. Here, we report spin transfer torque switching in nano-scale perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions with a magnetoresistance ratio up to 249% and a resistance area product as low as 7.0 Ω µm2, which consists of atom-thick W layers and double MgO/CoFeB interfaces. The efficient resonant tunnelling transmission induced by the atom-thick W layers could contribute to the larger magnetoresistance ratio than conventional structures with Ta layers, in addition to the robustness of W layers against high-temperature diffusion during annealing. The critical switching current density could be lower than 3.0 MA cm−2 for devices with a 45-nm radius.

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Spintronic devices use spin instead of charge to process information and are widely considered as promising candidates for next-generation electronic devices. In past decades, the main motivation in spintronics has been to discover new mechanisms and novel material systems to improve both device performance and the application prospects of spintronics. Recently, researchers have found that ferrimagnetic materials—in which sublattices are coupled antiferromagnetically—offer an emerging platform for realizing high-density, high-speed, and low-power-consumption memory and logic functions. Within such a ferrimagnetic class, vanishing magnetization and ultrafast magnetic dynamics can be achieved by adjusting chemical composition and temperature, among other parameters. Meanwhile, unlike for antiferromagnets, conventional electrical read–write methods remain suitable for ferrimagnets, which is beneficial for applications. In this review, an abundant class of ferrimagnets including oxides and alloys is surveyed, and unique magnetic dynamics and effective methods for manipulating the magnetic states of ferrimagnets are discussed. Finally, novel storage and computing devices based on ferrimagnets are considered, as there are some challenges to be addressed in future applications of ferrimagnets.

A novel passive phase correction method for stable fiber transfer of radio-frequency (RF) signal is proposed and demonstrated. By employing only one local oscillator and two frequency mixers in the local station, an RF signal received by an optical remote antenna unit is transmitted to the local station with very small phase jitter. An experiment is performed. When a 6 GHz RF signal is delivered through a 20 km single-mode fiber, effective cancellation of the RF signal's phase jitter induced by environmental perturbations is achieved. The residual jitter is less than 1.33 ps (about 0.05 rad). The proposed scheme requires no active mechanism to compensate the fiber-length fluctuations, and is thus compact, cost-effective, and easy to implement.