A new spin on information technologies

A new device based on the magnetic properties of spinning electrons could pave the way for better performing information technologies.

Physicists have made a switch-like device that uses magnetic waves from spinning electrons. This device could pave the way for next-generation information processing technologies, according to a study in Nature Communications.

Today’s information technologies are based on devices that use electrical currents to transport and process information. However, faster and more energy efficient devices could spring from the emerging field of magnon spintronics which is based on using the magnetic momenta generated by the collective excitation of spinning electrons in a crystal lattice, called magnons.

Now, an international team of scientists, including researchers from the Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University in Japan, has demonstrated how information can be encoded on a type of logic switch, called a magnon spin valve, made from several ferromagnets. This switch represents an important milestone in the creation of magnon-based devices.

This article was first published by Springer Nature. Read the original article at https://www.natureindex.com/article/10.1038/s41467-018-03485-5.

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