Orbital Engineering for Innovative Electronics

It has become increasingly clear that the European Union’s manufacturers largely rely on microelectronics components from outside the EU that make them vulnerable to materials supply bottlenecks. To support EU’s high-tech development and enhance its industrial sovereignty, novel technologies engaging radically new concepts are required such as, but not limited to, spin-based electronics. Crucially, these novel technologies must also demonstrate sustainability and resilience to material supply chain interruptions, while at the same time reducing the environmental footprint of this growing sector. OBELIX will contribute to this strategic effort by a twofold paradigm shift: (i) harnessing the orbital degree of freedom shall bring disruptive solutions to existing spin-based technologies, reducing power consumption and (ii) opening entirely new avenues for devices that do not require any heavy metals that are sourced outside EU and are often detrimental to the environment. OBELIX will demonstrate how the orbital moment can be engineered and controlled using electrical as well as optical means, enabling thus a novel information carrier that can be transmitted and used to write and read information thus outperforming conventional spin-based devices.