New Magnetic Phenomenon May Pave the Way for Ultrafast Memory Chips

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have uncovered a completely new type of magnetism in a custom-designed crystalline material, which they’ve termed p-wave magnetism.

Potential for Energy-Efficient Memory Technology

This finding holds great promise, as it offers a novel way to manipulate electron spins — a key step toward creating faster and more energy-efficient spintronic memory technologies, potentially replacing traditional electronics.

To understand the context, conventional ferromagnets feature atoms with electrons aligned in the same spin direction. In contrast, antiferromagnets (like some alloys and oxides) display alternating electron spins that cancel each other out, preventing large-scale magnetization.

In their experiments with an ultra-thin crystal of nickel iodide, the researchers observed something quite different: the nickel atoms’ spins formed a spiral configuration across the crystal lattice. Remarkably, this spiral could twist in either direction and be flipped using a small electric field generated by circularly polarized light.

Implications for Next-Generation Devices

This behavior opens up exciting possibilities for next-gen components like computer memory chips. “By directing spin currents, you can achieve interesting effects in devices — for instance, flipping magnetic domains that serve as bits of data,” said researcher Riccardo Comin, co-author of the Nature paper published last month. “Spintronic technologies are far more efficient than conventional ones because they shift spins instead of charges. That greatly reduces heat generation, which is why today’s computers get warm.”

Spintronics is a cutting-edge field that aims to harness the direction of electron spins for storing and processing data — much like binary code in current electronic systems. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s worth thinking of it as replacing the flow of electricity with the flow of spin.

According to researcher Qian Song, this new magnetic state requires only a minimal electric field to control. “P-wave magnets could potentially reduce energy use by a factor of 100,000. That’s an enormous improvement,” she noted.

However, practical application is still a ways off. Researchers observed the phenomenon at an extremely low temperature — around 60 kelvins (−213 °C or −351 °F).For this to be useful in real-world devices, scientists will need to identify materials that demonstrate p-wave magnetism at room temperature. Still, this discovery gives researchers a clear target moving forward.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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