Ultrafast laser-powered 'magnetic RAM' is on the horizon after new discovery
Researchers have found an elemental physical interaction between light and magnetism that might lead to the next generation of computing memory.
Scientists have discovered a new mechanism in which a concentrated laser beam can change the magnetic state of a solid material. The finding could one day be harnessed in ultrafast computing memory, the researchers say.
The scientists formulated a new equation that describes the link between the amplitude of the magnetic field of light, its frequency and the energy absorption properties of a magnetic material. The scientists published their findings in a study on Jan. 3 in the journal Physical Review Research.
The equation is "completely new and also very elemental," study co-author Amir Capua, a physics professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Live Science.
Although the discovery builds on the field known as "magneto-optics," this represents a new paradigm because scientists didn't previously understand that the magnetic component of a rapidly oscillating light wave can control magnets, he said. The equation describes the characteristics of this interaction.
