Information storage capabilities have reached dizzying height in the past decade: the bit size and computing is inching towards molecular level. The electron spin degree of freedom in molecules, the well-defined smallest electronic units with atomic precision, have limitless possibilities for synthesis and with precisely designed properties in innumerous ways. A major contributor towards this is spin polarized tunneling (SPT), discovered by Robert Meservey and Paul Tedrow,  a powerful method to investigate spin polarization of tunneling electrons from ferromagnetic metals, onset of ferromagnetism etc. It subsequently led to the discovery of tunnel magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions. Spin transport in organic semiconductors (OS) has the potential in realizing the molecular level spintronics in a straightforward way. The charge and spin transport at OS and ferromagnetic metal interface, although complex, has the needed capabilities and potential as shown in our recent work. Understanding this complex exchange interaction and controlling it can lead us towards future molecular engineering of spin state as a quantum of information that can aim to develop multifunctional molecular spintronics for memory, sensing, and logic applications.

In the talk we shall give an overview of our work through the decades in the field.