Spintronics Maximum Speed Measured

Category: Science & Technology
Posted: August 29, 2012 04:25PM
Author: Guest_Jim_*

In the foreseeable future, electronics will start to be replaced with other computing technologies because electronics are quickly approaching a size barrier. Wires and transistors can only be so small if they are to conduct electric signals reliably. This is why researchers are looking to spintronics, a cousin to electronics which use the spin of electrons instead of their charge to carry information. Now those at Brookhaven National Laboratory have determined just how fast spintronics can be.

To make this measurement the researchers created a magnetic vortex within permalloy. This is a material made of nickel and iron and has very high magnetic, so it holds any generated magnetic field. Using electric currents, the researchers created the magnetic vortex and then measured the non-adibatic spin torque, which is a necessary measurement to transfer spin with electric currents.

The value the researchers got was "very, very big" which means the speed limit for spintronic data transfer is extremely fast. As spintronics can also operate with much less power and do not need power to store data, it looks better and better as a replacement for electronic computers.

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