The Defense Department has awarded up to $5 million over five years for a multi-university research initiative (MURI) led by David D. Awschalom, UCSB professor of physics and of electrical and computer engineering, to develop a chip that can independently process electronic, magnetic, and optical information and convert from any one type to any other type of information.

Described as a “multifunctional” chip, it would be highly compact and use considerably less power than would a system constructed from several components to perform the same function. Current electronic devices rely on the electron charge to transport and store information, but the new technological approach to be pursued by this collaboration relies on using another property of the electron, called “spin,” to store and transport information, and to interface with optics and magnetics.

Awschalom and his research group have pioneered experimental techniques that made possible the discovery of long-lived electron spin lifetimes and coherence in semiconductors and nanostructures. They recently demonstrated all-electrical generation and manipulation of both electron and nuclear spins in prototype solid-state devices.