Elisabetta Quadalti
Research project
Electrical and current-gradient control of the orbital torque with light elements
Project supervisor
Dr. Henri Jaffrès
Recruitment date
10/08/2026
My name is Elisabetta and I come from a small town in the Province of Bologna, Italy.
Five years ago, I moved to Turin to study Physics Engineering at Politecnico di Torino because it felt like the best compromise between my passion for understanding the fundamental laws of nature through physics and my curiosity towards the design of devices through engineering.
After graduating, I realized this combination really worked for me, so I decided to continue my studies by enrolling in the NANOQUAD program between Politecnico di Torino and Université Paris Cité. As the name suggests, this program is both focused on nanotechnologies and quantum devices. Over these intense two years, I deepened my knowledge, met inspiring professors and great colleagues, gradually learned a new language and grew both as an aspiring researcher and as a person.
Meanwhile, I have been following the spintronics community on the media, fascinated by this branch of physics and its applications. This led me to discover the ORBIS program, which I see as a super opportunity and a natural step forward in my journey.
My ultimate goal is to keep learning and to share the knowledge I acquire with others.
Project Description
The use of the orbital polarization and orbital torques (OT) represents a clear perspective to enhance operations efficiency of spintronic devices. The reason is that the generation of our-of-equilibrium orbital polarization, unlike the spin counterpart, does not require the action of any spin-orbit coupling as a perturbation, to be implemented. With the OT, one can already anticipate a severe reduction of the critical currents for magnetization switching in corresponding devices.
In this project, we first plan to make optimized engineering of metal stacking involving light elements promoting the required orbital polarization and demonstrate the enhancement of the efficiency or figure of merit of the stacks. Moreover, (ii) by using and combining various experimental techniques and methods available at the laboratory (harmonic Hall, spin pumping, FMR linewidth analysis) among which ultrafast optical excitation (THz-TDS), we will benchmark the orbital generation, propagation and orbital currents and corresponding torque efficiencies (orbital Hall angle, orbital Rashba-Edelstein length, decoherence length) in these multilayers and at their interfaces. We will design on 200 nm or less magnetic memory elements made by e-beam lithography to achieve the proof of concept of low energy writing operation using the OT. The third part (iii) of the experimental task will be to introduce and demonstrate a gate voltage control of the OT-driven magnetization switching. (iv) The overall following data and analyses of the different physical effects (orbital vs. Spin contribution) will be accompanied by the development of advanced theory/model/numerical simulations and possibly DFT output.
Host institution
CNRS is a government-funded research organization under the administrative supervision of the French Ministry of Higher Education. It is the largest fundamental research organization in Europe.
Laboratoire Albert Fert focuses on various areas of condensed matter physics, i.e. spintronics, oxytronics, superconductivity and, more recently, neuromorphic physics, in which the laboratory is at the forefront in France and internationally. This fundamental research is also aimed at developing applications and stimulating innovation in ICT, unconventional approaches to computing and beyond CMOS logic, and quantum technologies.
Planned Secondments
Academic Secondment
Freie Universität Berlin (FUB)
Berlin, Germany
Prof. Tobias Kampfrath | Dr. Tom S. Seifert
Industrial Secondment
Singulus Technologies AG (STAG)
Kahl am Main, Germany
Dr. Jürgen Langer | Dr. Berthold Ocker
Registering University
Université Paris-Saclay
France