Abstract
Electron undoubtedly is one of the most important elementary particles that are intimately related to human activities. From radio, TV to smart phone, electronics has totally revolutionized our lives. Surprisingly, in most electronics to date we have only utilized the charge carried by electrons, while ignoring the other inherent property, the spin. In Spintronics we explicitly make use of the spin degree of freedom of electrons to achieve new functionalities. After a brief introduction, I will describe the spin-dependent effects controlled by magnetic field and electric current. I will then focus on the exploration of new spintronic phenomena that can be controlled by electric field via the applied voltage, driven by the premise that voltage-controlled switching would be far more energy efficient and compatible with the ubiquitous semiconductor devices. I will talk about the earlier effort in searching for room temperature magnetic semiconductors where the magnetism is mediated by charge carriers. Then I will describe the new development in exploiting the electric field effect in novel systems where the magnetic anisotropy or even the magnetism of the ultra-thin ferromagnetic films ( ~ 1nm) can be completely controlled by the applied voltages, through both the electronic and ionic effects. [1-2].
[1] W. G. Wang, M. Li, S. Hageman, and C. L. Chien, Nat. Mater. 11, 64 (2012).
[2] C. Bi, Y. Liu, T. Newhouse-Illige, M. Xu, M. Rosales, J. W. Freeland, O. Mryasov, S. Zhang, S. G. E. te Velthuis, and W. G. Wang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 267202 (2014).

Bio:
Dr. Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Arizona. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Delaware in 2008. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Physic and Astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University from 2008 to 2012. He joined the University of Arizona in August 2012. His work has focused on the interaction of charge, spin and heat in magnetic nanostructures. He has systematically investigated the ballistic transport of spin-polarized electrons over insulating barriers, and the dynamic evolution of symmetry-conserved tunneling conductance in the solid-state epitaxy process. He is pioneering in the research of interfacial perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at ferromagnet /oxide interfaces. He has demonstrated that the magnetic properties of metallic ferromagnets can be dramatically changed by an external electric field, and realized the electric-field-induced resistance switching in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions with over 100% magnetoresistance. His group is currently studying this electrostatically controlled magnetism in various systems where a marked change of magnetic anisotropy and magnetization can be achieved by applied voltages.