Nobel Prize winner explains his research

Students, faculty and cake were on hand Friday for a lecture by the 2007 Nobel Prize winner in physics Albert Fert, who was also celebrating his 70th birthday.

The talk was hosted by the UA Center for Materials and Information Technology and the department of physics and astronomy.

Fert, a physicist and professor at the Université Paris-Sud in France, spoke about his work on spintronics and his discovery that led to the development of the iPod and other electronic advancements.

William Butler, director of the MINT Center, introduced the speaker.

"He is one person who can legitimately be called the father of our field of spintronics," Butler said.

Fert's paper, published in 1988, was the birth of spintronics, Butler said. Fert, along with Peter Gruenberg, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery of giant magnetoresistance, GMR. This has lead to advancements for hard disks used in computers and music players.

Gene Byrd, UA professor of physics, said some of the research for the Nobel Prize was done at the University.

"Spintronics is most known for the development of magnetoresistance that we use to heat areas of computers or to listen to the iPod, for example," Fert said.

The MINT Center focuses on developing new materials to advance data storage. More than 30 faculty members from seven academic programs work in the Center.

In 1994, it became the first research program in the South designated as a National Science Foundation Materials Research and Engineering Center.

Corporate sponsors for the MINT Center include IBM, Seagate, Western Digital, Maxell and Fujitsu.

"This is one of the centers of spintronics in the world," Butler said.

Spintronic devices are similar to electronic devices, but unlike simple electronic devices, spintronic devices use an electron's spin and charge to store data.

GMR and tunneling magnetoresistance have allowed engineers to make sensors that can read the tiny magnetized regions on hard disks drives.

This allows manufacturers of hard drives, such as those in iPods, TiVos and high-capacity memory for digital cameras, to pack much more information into the same area for a lower cost.

Fert used his presentation to show that spintronics works in various ways.

"Spintronics is a baby that will grow," Fert said.

Cake was served after the presentation, in honor of Fert's birthday.