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Researchers Put 'Spin' in Silicon
ccellist writes "Physorg.com is reporting on the University of Delaware and Cambridge NanoTech's experiments regarding 'spintronics,' or the ability to use information about electron spin in atoms of silicon to encode information, much like we use information about an electron's charge state in computers today. 'Spintronics' research hopes to usher in a new age of computer speed and performance by measuring and even controlling the angular momentum displayed by all electrons, and using this information to encode data. Researchers for the first time have successfully conducted the spin of electrons in a custom-made silicon chip, a process known as 'spin transport.'"
nah, it's all appropriate. The angular momentum is on the magnetic moment produced at the electron from an applied magnetic field, due mainly to the Zeeman interaction. The spin itself is the magnetic moment of the electron. Changes in the magnetic field (non parallel) apply a torque on the moment and change its orientation. The motions are described by the quantum angular momentum equations .. i.e. commutation relations. These commutation relations are the quantum analog to the classical angular momentum equations.