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Revolutionary magnetic research: Terahertz radiation for new storage technologies!
Scientists at TU Dortmund University are researching ultra-fast reading of magnetic structures using terahertz pulses.
Revolutionary magnetic research: Terahertz radiation for new storage technologies!
An international team of researchers has recently made significant progress in using light to analyze and potentially manipulate magnetic structures. The scientists from Dortmund, Dresden and the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) present promising approaches to both effectively read and potentially write magnetic states in material samples. TU Dortmund reports that data is currently accessed at speeds of just a few hundred megabytes per second. The newly developed methods could shorten this process to a few nanoseconds.
The current publication used extremely short and intense terahertz pulses that were generated at the HZDR by the “ELBE” radiation source. These pulses are not only able to analyze the magnetization of extremely thin material samples, but also open up new ways to manipulate magnetic structures within picoseconds. Dr. Sergey Kovalev from TU Dortmund and Dr. Ruslan Salikhov from HZDR led the experiments. They analyzed how terahertz pulses create magnetic interactions that are important for data processing.
New possibilities in data storage and processing
The developments in the area of antiferromagnetic materials, which are characterized by their alternating spin arrangements, are particularly exciting. A breakthrough was recently achieved by the MPSD team in collaboration with MIT. The scientists were able to create a new, long-lasting magnetic state in an antiferromagnetic material using a terahertz laser. These findings could prove to be groundbreaking in the development of robust memory chips. Loud MPSD The material FePS3 was used, which reaches its antiferromagnetic phase at around 118 Kelvin (-115 °C).
A terahertz pulse could move the atoms' spins to a new position, inducing net magnetization. This condition lasted a few milliseconds, which is a significant extension compared to previous experiments. This method could open up new ways to specifically control magnetic properties.
Technological challenges and perspectives
A central concept in this research is the interaction between spins and phonons, which act as “glue” and transmit commands to the magnetization. During such a process, the atomic distances are modulated, resulting in a change in the magnetic properties. Scinexx emphasizes that this research is still considered basic research because the challenge is to develop reliable methods for switching between different magnetic states.
These new technologies also require more compact sources for short terahertz pulses and powerful sensors for analysis. The researchers' findings could, in the long term, revolutionize the way data is stored and processed by making it possible not only to read but also to write magnetically stored data using terahertz radiation.