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text: Eva Lundgren Photography: Johan Wingborg
A scientific omnivore “We’ve used electrons’ charge for a hundred years. Now we’re also taming their spin,” explains Johan Åkerman. He’s built up one of the world’s foremost research environments in spintronics, an area with enormous possibilities, among them creating superfast computers. Now he’s a member of Sweden’s new academy for young researchers. ohan Åkerman pours a cup of steamy hot coffee from a well equipped coffee machine in his room. He moves a little stiffly because he’s devoted his morning to one of the promises he made when he was tempted by the University of Gothenburg to leave KTH in October of 2008: participating in the Physic Department’s floorball matches. He still has his home, family and a part-time position in Kista, Stockholm, where he also still has his company, NanOsc. Exactly how he manages to be in two places at the same time is one of the physical riddles that are hardest for him to explain. But he actually thinks it’s a pretty good arrangement. “I combine the best of two different places: in Kista I still have the processes I’ve developed myself since 2005. I’m moving over as many of the process steps as I can right now, but all of them aren’t working yet. Here in Gothenburg there’s one of the world’s best laboratories for nanotechnology, MC2. And my cooperative partners are international. Right now I’m primarily working together with a group from Italy. But my group at the University of Gothenburg is also very experienced. Where I actually am physically isn’t so important.” Johan Åkerman’s two research groups consist of a total of 16 persons. They have constant communication with each other via Dropbox, Skype and the Convofy network. This means that the group can always build on a collective knowledge base where everyone is updated on everything that’s happen-
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wireless networks and in mobile phones. The spin ing, both what’s going on in their own projects and waves are also called magnons, as compared with in others. sound waves, which are called phonons, and light, “My doctoral students and post docs come from photons.” Italy, the Ukraine, Germany, Venezuela, the US, Iran, India, China, Korea, Vietnam and Sweden. The value of a multicultural environment and the A problem with modern computer technology is importance of creating a positive spirit were some the communication between the transistors in the of the many things I learned in the US. I place very computer chip. Today this goes together with milhigh demands on my employees and on all the lions of lines inside the chip and hundreds between equipment. There’s a lot that can go wrong – and chips. it does – we’re in a constant battle against entropy. “Using spintronics, we hope instead to be able But I’m careful about everybody feeling good. The to create wireless communication within the chip coffee machine, for example, is a little fun factor. If between only one sender and one receiver. The everybody’s satisfied then I’ve done a good job.” computers of tomorrow will be smaller, faster, Johan Åkerman grew up in Tranemo and Lund. cheaper and more energy efficient.” But he did his Master’s in Lausanne and he did Johan Åkerman’s group hasn’t only calculated his doctorate at KTH before he left as a post doc the spin waves on which the technology is built. for the University of California in San Diego. He They’re also the first in the world to have succeeded also worked at Motorola and in depicting them optically. Freescale Semiconductor, “We sent our results to Nature and the editor Phoenix, Arizona, before thought it was good he got the prestigious enough to send it out for research grant “Research The computers of tomorrow will review.” Leader of the Future” Johan Åkerman is be smaller, faster, cheaper and more (“Framtidens forsknused to talking about all energy efficient. ingsledare”) from the the fantastic possibilities Swedish Foundation for of spintronics. He learned Strategic Research. during his years in the US that it’s important to be able to explain your research and that basic Spintronic s and magnons are the words that research and applications go hand in hand. Still, Johan Åkerman uses to explain what he does. it’s the research itself that interests him most and it Magnonics is a completely new research area that was the possibility to go deeper in his research that has only existed for three or four years. gradually made him leave the US. “An electron has two characteristics: charge, “If I hadn’t been named Research Leader of which is used in all electronics, and spin, which the Future the whole family probably would have makes the electrons magnetic. Spintronics has moved to Silicon Valley. My wife did her PhD at the to do with combining these two characteristics, Burnham Institute in San Diego, one of the world’s which is already done in the read-out head in modforemost cancer research institutes, and we had ern hard disks. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg just had twins when the offer came from SSF. I later – the technique will be able to be used in all areas learned that I was considered something of a wild that deal with communication, for example in