January 6^th - 8^th 2010
Physikzentrum Bad Honnef, Germany

This WE-Heraeus-Seminar will be centered around spin-orbit effects, which have been realized since many years to be of central importance for fiels ranging from atomic physics to solid state research, where spin-orbit coupling is e.g. responsible for the magnetocrystalline anisotropy, that stabilizes the magnetization direction in a solid. In the last decades the control and manipulation of the electrons' spin has been in the focus of magnetoelectronic and spintronic research and spin-orbit coupling effects turned out to be the key to address the spin degree of freedom without the use of external magnetic fields. In semiconductors' two-dimensional interface structures this effect is well known as Rashba effect. This seminar will focus on different aspects of this type of interaction, as they appear on (metallic) surfaces and magnetic nanostructures.

The topics covered in the workshop will be

• - Rashba effect in semiconductor heterostructures
• - Rashba effect at metal surfaces and in metal quantum wells
• - Spin Hall effect
• - Quantum spin Hall effect
• - Topological insulator
• - Chiral spin structures

Leading experts are invited to introduce these topics for a broader audience to facilitate the transfer of concepts from different fields and stimulate new research activites across the traditional borders of research areas. he seminar which is supported by the Wilhelm und Else Heraeus-Stiftung (WE-Heraeus Foundation).

For further information please contact one of the organizers:

• Priv.-Doz. Dr. Oliver Rader
  Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
  Elektronenspeicherring BESSY II
  Albert-Einstein-Str. 15, D-12489 Berlin, Germany
  E-mail: rader@bessy.de
   
  
• Dr. Gustav Bihlmayer
  Forschungszentrum Jülich, IFF- I
  D-52425 Jülich, Germany
  E-mail: G.Bihlmayer@fz-juelich.de