• Chiral tellurium crystals enable efficient charge-to-spin conversion, reaching 50% efficiency, due to slow relaxons.
• The slow relaxons result from parallel spin-momentum entanglement at the Fermi surface, suppressing back-scattering and extending spin lifetime.
• This discovery paves the way for novel spintronic devices with efficient spin signal generation and long-range transport in chiral materials.

A recent study published in Nature Communications reveals that chiral tellurium (Te) crystals exhibit an unprecedentedly efficient charge-to-spin conversion, achieving up to 50% efficiency. This is attributed to the presence of slow collective relaxation modes, termed relaxons, which arise from parallel spin-momentum entanglement at the Fermi surface of the Te crystals. This phenomenon allows for efficient spin signal generation and long-range spin transport, potentially revolutionizing the development of spintronic devices by overcoming the typical trade-off between strong spin-orbit coupling and rapid spin dissipation.

• What: Chiral tellurium crystals exhibit efficient charge-to-spin conversion due to slow relaxons, leading to long-range spin transport. The conversion efficiency reaches 50%.
• Who: Researchers at Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen and Sherubtse College, Royal University of Bhutan, led by Evgenii Barts, Karma Tenzin, and Jagoda Sławińska.
• When: Research published in Nature Communications on April 30, 2025, with data collected and analyzed prior to this date.
• Where: Research conducted at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, with theoretical analysis and computational studies.

The study's significance lies in overcoming the inherent trade-off between strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and rapid spin dissipation, which has limited spintronic device development. By identifying and explaining the role of slow relaxons in chiral tellurium, the researchers demonstrate a mechanism for both efficient spin generation and long-range transport. The analysis, employing exact Boltzmann transport equations, offers a robust methodology for calculating spin transport coefficients. The results show a significant improvement over previous theoretical calculations, aligning well with experimental NMR data. The discovery suggests that chiral materials with strong spin-momentum locking could be a key platform for future spintronic technologies. The potential for creating all-electrical spintronic devices operating in a non-local spin diffusive regime represents a major step forward.

This research highlights the potential of chiral tellurium crystals for spintronic applications. The discovery of efficient charge-to-spin conversion, facilitated by slow relaxons and spin-momentum entanglement, overcomes a major hurdle in the field. While further research is needed to fully understand the interplay between relaxon lifetimes and experimental transport coefficients, the findings offer a clear path toward developing novel spintronic devices based on chiral materials, with the promise of efficient spin signal generation and long-range transport.