http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/may/21/spin-currents-endure-at-room-temperature-in-germanium
Currents of electron spin can travel more than half a micron through germanium at room temperature, according to researchers in Japan and the UK. While physicists already know that germanium is a good conductor of spins at very low temperatures, this is the best measurement yet of its ability to transport spin at room temperature. The results suggest that the semiconductor could be used to create spintronic devices, which make use of the spin magnetic moment of the electron to store and process information.
The idea of spintronics has been around for several decades, and the nascent technology promises to deliver devices that are smaller and more energy efficient than conventional electronics. Another potential application of spintronics is to use individual electron spins – which can point up or down – to store and transfer information in quantum computers.
However, practical spintronic devices have proven to be very difficult to build, because electron spin does not travel very far in most materials and therefore the information is quickly lost. The main challenge is overcoming a well-known effect in physics called the "spin–orbit interaction". As the electron travels through a material, the relative motions of the positively charged atoms create magnetic fields that tend to rotate the electron's spin. In most materials, this results in the rapid destruction of a spin current across very short distances. Fortunately, some semiconductors already used in electronics – including silicon and germanium – have very weak spin–orbit interactions, and so a lot of effort has been put into studying the spin-transport properties of these materials.
You are now aware that spintronic is a word. What a future we live in