Spintronic innovations for frugal and agile digital technology
The growth of the "digital world" brings environmental costs that can no longer be overlooked, with projections indicating that by 2030, it could account for 20 to 30% of global electricity consumption! A paradigm shift is necessary, requiring a reevaluation of our priorities in order to achieve genuine conceptual breakthroughs. This involves integrating frugality as an essential performance criterion, equally important as computational power, speed, miniaturization, or cost. This is where spintronics, which is intrinsically more "rich" than traditional electronics that only consider the charge of the electron and not its spin to create new functionalities, emerges as an indispensable solution. Indeed, after having "revolutionized" the field of data storage and sensors, this area now offers multiple prospects for the development of new devices that are both high-performing and energy-efficient, as well as reconfigurable. Spintronic devices and systems are already providing solutions in areas such as data storage, automotive sensors, healthcare, and non-volatile memories. Beyond that, many short- and medium-term opportunities are envisioned in computing, e.g. edge computing, HPC, low-power components for Artificial Intelligence, as well as in smart communications, the Internet of Things, and future networks. A second virtuous cycle is currently opening in spintronics with the emergence of promising innovations stemming from new scientific breakthroughs. These will retain the unique characteristics of spintronics in terms of energy efficiency, non-volatility, radiation resistance, and integrability while offering new functionalities for interfaces with other fields of physics and engineering. Spintronics has the potential to generate intellectual property, stimulate and strengthen innovation and technology transfer, and also support industrial renewal on numerous major societal interest topics. The strong momentum of this emerging field opens up entirely new perspectives in computing, IoT, telecommunications, reprogrammable logic, and smart sensors, potentially addressing significant issues of sovereignty in information technology, AI, security, energy, and health, as well as markets such as defense, nuclear, and aerospace thanks to the insensitivity of spintronic devices to ionizing radiation.